Do you think democracy can actually work in China?

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The idea that China would not work as a democracy simply because they have no "democratic tradition" is one of the most ridiculous things I've read on this forum... guess what neither did most of Western Europe 100 years ago.

[ag]

Does China have universal elementary and secondary education? That's basically the same question.

India does not.

So, it is not the same question.

[ag]

The idea that China would not work as a democracy simply because they have no "democratic tradition" is one of the most ridiculous things I've read on this forum... guess what neither did most of Western Europe 100 years ago.

Actually that's not true (but would be true of a lot of other places which are now democratic).

To most non-historians/historically interested "100 years ago" is just a way of saying "long time ago", but it still hurts the eyes to read it.

Well, you could argue that even in 1915 the "democracy" in Spain, Austria-Hungary, or even Germany, etc., etc., was, at best, very imperfectly established.

[ag]

Well there were (at least nominally) representative assemblies in most of Europe (East as well as West; even the Russian Empire had the Duma) a century ago... but most countries fell well short of what we would call 'democracy' today (but not always for the same reasons).

A democratic tradition does not necessarily mean that there is a fully fledged democracy, just that the idea and ideal of democracy is widespread.

Well, a Russian finance minister once said on the floor of the Duma: "Thanks God, we do not have a parliament!" )

[ag]

The idea that China would not work as a democracy simply because they have no "democratic tradition" is one of the most ridiculous things I've read on this forum... guess what neither did most of Western Europe 100 years ago.

Actually that's not true (but would be true of a lot of other places which are now democratic).

To most non-historians/historically interested "100 years ago" is just a way of saying "long time ago", but it still hurts the eyes to read it.

Well, you could argue that even in 1915 the "democracy" in Spain, Austria-Hungary, or even Germany, etc., etc., was, at best, very imperfectly established.

Austria-Hungary was not Western Europe.

I admit that how you define Western and Eastern Europe and whether you consider Central Europe (Mitteleuropa) to be a separate region (I do) influences the answer quite a bit.

The mainstream view in North America is to split Europe in two: West and East, corresponding on which side they were during Cold War.

Yeah, but the claim was made by a Swede and quoted by a Russian, so that is hardly relevant.

Well, as a North European yourself, you do not seem to view your own position as very relevant either

BTW, I am Mexican

Though, when I lived in Spain, I remember people their saying "in Europe" when they meant "north of the Pirinees. I guess, you should have excluded Spain from "Western Europe" as well. Then, again, hard to be further "West".