Authoritarian capitalism vs. Democratic capitalism

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Has the cold war heated up? The May/June issue of GOOD magazine, Don’t Be Scared of China, features an article titled, 10 Reasons Why China Matters to You. The article raises some interesting questions about globalization. First, there has been much debate about whether globalization is the new imperialism. I continue to raise this question whenever the opportunity presents itself. My own opinion is that it is, but changes sometimes depending on the evidence presented in the arguments.

Second, the article points out that China decided to concentrate on economic growth rather than its political system following Tiananmen Square, 1989. “Many of that generation…felt freedom was 90% political and 10% economic, but after Deng’s crackdown…real freedom was 90% economic and 10% political.” The hope is that economic growth will spur the development of a middle class, which will press for greater political freedom. China is promoting their idea of greater economic freedom over political freedom abroad in other developing countries like Sudan. The U.S. on the other hand, promotes democracy first, and then economic development. Just look at Iraq and Afghanistan. The approach is to first give citizens the right to vote, and then they will pursue economic development.

As two new superpowers wage war on a new front, the global economy, the U.S. dollar continues to fall while gas and food prices soar. And the winner is?? Does it really matter whether capitalism is under an authoritarian or democratic government? Or, in a global economy, does a democratic or authoritarian political system matter when capitalism is the economic system? It appears that China has these answers for now anyway.

By the way, is the Communist Party still communist or just protectionist capitalist?

http://www.goodmagazine.com

Valerie

[Anonymous]

This is an interesting post because Zakaria argues something in this vain in Newsweek some weeks back. Zakaria argues that through globalization, other countries in the world and following America's model and doing the best that they can do with the American bussiness model, capitalism. I think that is anything things are simply different and there are going to be major shifts in power over the next few decades. In can be argued that China is taking part in economic imperialistic policies, especially in Africa. Of course this is something that the US has long taken part in. It seems as if discourse needs to change and perhaps even new ways to describe new models of government and economy need to be created.

[Anonymous]

Today, a report on NPR stated that Vietnam's businesses are primarily state owned, and the state continues to borrow money from banks to prop up these business during these difficult economic times. Of course this is affecting the average citizen who pays a higher interest rate than the state favored businesses while food prices have increased 40%, the stock market declined 60% since January, and energy costs continue to rise. Does this sound familiar? Again, globalization seems to have the same economic impact on citizens irrespective of the type of government system.

Now, I realize that there are clearly benefits to having civil liberties (and I would not want to give them up), but isn’t economic freedom more important to the pursuit of happiness? What am I missing here?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for directing me to Zakaria. I read the NY times review of his new book, The Post-American World, which covers the points you mentioned. He relates America's economic woes more directly to domestic policies rather than globalization. And, his solution is to implement reforms for wasteful spending, subsidies, increase savings, etc. He blames legislative gridlock and partisanship for the failure to resolve these domestic economic problems. However, debate and consensus are key components of our democratic system of government. Am I to infer from Mr. Zakaria that the Chinese, with a one party system, can respond better to both domestic and global economic issues? Time is certainly of the essence in today’s ever changing global economy. Is American democracy hindering its own economy while autocratic governments are rapidly expanding their economy? Is our economy being left behind?

Zakaria also discusses India in his book that I plan to examine for a different perspective on my original post. I agree that new models of government and economic systems are needed for globalization. Any ideas???

[Anonymous]

I expect we will continue to see more and more on this topic of political systems and economic systems as the Olympics get closer. It should be a very interesting debate and I think people will begin to care more about the economics of the issue. We are a world driven by money (for better or worse...definately for worse), and I think people will stop caring as much about the political system one county claims and more about the wealth they bring their citizens and the global economy. People are really feeling the pinch in their wallets right now arcoss the globe. People want a strong economy more than a political system and I think that is what we will see as we move closer to the Olympics. I also agree that China has really embraced capitalism and is more of a protectionist capitalist country than strictly a Communist country.

[Anonymous]

The author Simon Winchester was featured on Book TV this morning (C-SPAN2). His latest book entitled, The Man Who Loved China" is the story of an English scientist, Joseph Needham, who in 1937 fell in love with a visiting Chinese student and became fascinated with China. Needham traveled throughout China in search of evidence to prove his belief that the Chinese were responsible for many innovations before the rest of the world. He produced several volumes on China and was considered the "greatest one-man encyclopedist ever." Needham's work was published as "Science and Civilisation in China" and includes seventeen volumes. This new book by Winchester covers Needham's historical research of China which is sounds very interesting.

During the QA portion of the interview this morning, Winchester was asked to comment on the economic development of China, and how as a communist country it has been so successful with capitalism? His response was that citizens in major cities in China live in a mostly free society with two exceptions: 1) they cannot speak out against the government; and, 2) they cannot seek outside information. His opinion is that the success of capitalism is the direct result of the new freedoms experienced by the Chinese people, and economic development is not diminished by the two exceptions.

You can learn more about Winchester's book at http://simonwinchester.com/books/manwho_description.html.

Valerie

[Anonymous]

You have both touched on what to me is the biggest mystery about modern China. How can a communst economy behave so capitalist. I am going back to the text that we received in the seminar; "East Asia". There is a subchapter on page 567: Restructuring the economy. This is going to be my read tonight and I will comment on it in the next post.

Alfons

[Anonymous]

In this context I want to mention a movie I rented last weekend: "For the Children" (2002). This is a movie
about a Beijing schoolteacher going to the remote region of Xinjiang in order to assist a local Xinjiang schoolteacher. The Beijing girl wears designer clothes in an extremely poor, desolate and backward world. The local teacher however shows to be very intellgent and resourceful in her own way. In an almost incredible way the two woman take their rural class of chidren to Bejing where they stay at the Bejing woma'ns family home. She lives with her husband in a completely modern yuppie environment. The contrast is amazing. The movie specifically explores the urban vs. rural situation. It is a social realist movie reminiscent of Vittorio de Sica (la bicigletta) It also has almost surreal elements which might very well have been inspired by European film. There are no aswers to be found in the film about why there's such a cultural and social discrepancy between rural and urban China and how it evolved so quickly. Seeing the film howerver has brought me one step closer to feeling China.

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