trade is by far the greatest factor in encouraging authoritarian nations to change.
what is this i don't even
You need only look at perestroika for confirmation of this rule: authoritarian nations, when placed under the democratizing pressures of the international market, either fold or change before the influence of democratic First World nations.
democratizing pressures of the international market?
The Soviet Union didn't fall because of Reagan's ludicrous defense spending, conservative whining to the contrary. It fell because it underwent massive trade liberalization in the 1980s, and its inefficient authoritarian domestic economy couldn't compete with the economies of the Western democracies.
China's authoritarian economy can compete with the economies of the Western democracies.
Not internally, which is why the flow of trade from China is one-way. If trade in the Chinese interior were liberalized to foreign markets, it would collapse rapidly.
Too bad it will not liberalize.
It would if it were pressured to do so. But our Republican representatives, who are oh so in favor of free trade, have no desire to do so, because keeping China around as a boogeyman helps to keep defense spending high. And the Democrats would be made to look weak on the issue.
Or maybe the Democrats are unabashed corporatist bastards who'd rather have their buddies make a few dollars off it?
Poll
