The China Model Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy
From 2:55 https://t.co/yBbgCSeCbR #r4today David Runciman asks: Democracy is starting to look unhinged and is going through a mid-life crisis. Will democracy end? https://t.co/68GDmenKyb @TPpodcast_— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@isabelhilton says Beijing is feeling rather smug about the crisis of confidence in Western Democracy and contemptuous of it. "It is being used by the Chinese Communist Party to persuade the Chinese that there is nothing to envy here."— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@bbcnickrobinson: "The Chinese are using the crisis in confidence of democracy to persuade people around the world that their system - to put it crudely - delivers the goods."— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@isabelhilton: "Our loss of confidence in our own institutions and our failure to attend to the phenomenon of elected leaders who then attack the rights of their electorate eg extending term limits, transfer of wealth to elites has not served democracy at all."— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@bbcnickrobinson: "Professor Runciman, do you argue that we have something to learn from the Chinese and should perhaps stop the era of saying 'Democracy is the end not merely the means to the end'?"— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
"We spend so much time thinking of Putin and Russia, yet the real rival to Western democracy is the Chinese system. Very few people advocate it as an alternative, but it's possible the Chinese are leading the way and we are so preoccupied we are missing the long term challenges."— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@bbcnickrobinson: "Are the Chinese leading the way because they are able to be technocratic and managerial, long-term? Are you suggesting that democracy stops you from taking the decisions you need to take?"— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
Runciman: "People come back from China starry-eyed saying 'Wow, these people can think about the future, but we are just thinking about the next election.' There are huge risks, but the Chinese system does have a kind of technical capacity we probably haven't recognised yet."— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
Runciman: "The Chinese system is basically run by engineers, not by ideologues. It's more pragmatic than the rivals democracy faces in the 20th century. I don't think we should copy it, but we shouldn't be oblivious to the fact that democracy faces a rival."— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@isabelhilton: "I think that might have been true 5 years ago but we are now seeing a return of ideology and authoritarianism in China. It looks much less pragmatic now than it did 5 years ago and it is not really clear that this is going to be sustainable."— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@bbcnickrobinson: "Is it possible that while we see the positive exports, the success, people at home see the repression, the failure to deal with pollution, the failure to listen to ordinary people's concerns and so on?"— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@bbcnickrobinson: "Is it possible that while we see the positive exports, the success, people at home see the repression, the failure to deal with pollution, the failure to listen to ordinary people's concerns and so on?"— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@isabelhilton: "It is true that delivering material benefits has taken the regime a very long way. As the economy slows, it is no coincidence that we see a tightening in security and more repression as the economic prospects are not quite as exuberant as they used to be."— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@bbcnickrobinson: "I noiticed that you pulled a slight grimace as Professor Runciman said we should learn from the Chinese. Are you worried about that?"— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
.@isabelhilton: "Yes, and I think that's a symptom of uncritical admiration."— Claire Khaw (@MinimumSt8) June 1, 2018
