Economic freedom - political authoritarianism
To some extent, every political culture is created by the choices people make. Sometimes those choices are more visible than others.Dan Harris, in China Law Blog, writes, "What If Beijing Is Right? What If It Is Not?"
He points out Howard French's International Herald Tribune article, "Letter from China: What if Beijing is right?"
Harris writes, "French asks whether perhaps Beijing's government dominated way of running the economy might not just be the best way of all.
"The two page article is hugely positive on China and on how Beijing has been running things, but concludes without really answering its own question."
Then Harris quotes French, "And what is the answer? In most cases, one must confine oneself to the provisional voice, yet one based on a long record of human behavior and history. Based on that knowledge, the best we can say to these 'what ifs' today is: because things have never worked out that way before."
Harris' response is, "I do not believe Beijing is right. I believe China's thriving economy is due far more to its opening up than to government steering. I cannot prove this, nor can this be disproven.
"There will also come a time when Beijing will be wrong. That time will come when its own population becomes so wealthy it will no longer view the trading of political and social goods for economic goods as a fair exchange."
French's article is good and the topic is thought provoking. The comments added to Dan Harris' China Law Blog entry are also interesting. This all leads me to think that students would respond to this issue, too. After all, it's not just China where choices like this are being made: Russia, Nigeria, Iran, etc.
Check out both articles.
Labels: China, concepts, economics, political culture
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:54 PM
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