Economic Development and Chinese Democratization

Introduction

When a transaction of power is appropriately facilitated and the regime allows for elections to be held in a fair and free manner, then in such a social democracy can be said to be present. Elections are essential in democratic processes as they contribute immensely to the democratic governance and form a significant tool for a peaceful and democratic transition of power with the choice and consent of the people (Cheibub, Gandhi, & Vreeland, 2009). In China, there has been tremendous economic improvement brought about by immense consumption and vast human resources. 

As much as their gross domestic product is ranked the second highest world widely, China has been ranked out of 193 countries as 178th most free country. These findings are based on the research conducted by Freedom House, an organization that focuses on advocacy and research on human rights, democracy, and political freedom (Cheibub, Gandhi, & Vreeland, 2009). In comparison to other Asian countries like Cambodia or India, China lags on issues about democratization. This leads to the question, “Can the economic development in China lead to its democratization?” This empirical research aims at explaining whether additional development of the Chinese economy can lead to its democratization. 

Limitations of the Study

Empirical research has been known to make studies authentic and proficient but has several limitations. Some of the challenges encountered in the study include the research being time-consuming since several sources were consulted in the collection of data using limited leading to the research being time-consuming. The research was also pretty expensive as it involved the collection of data from different locations ( Weber, 2017) . Furthermore, the empirical methodology that was employed made it challenging to reduce complex qualitative and variable phenomenon to the quantitative indicators that are required for statistical analysis. This complication is brought about by the fact that the studies deal with estimated relationships rather than concrete inferences. 

Issues concerning the jurisdiction and admissibility of the data collected may make the findings unrepresentative of other kinds of cultural, legal, or educational aspects. The study gives way to openings for further studies on the subject. Moreover, the research has no control group such as most newsprint publishers enjoy institutional protection and independence then determined which corrupt related cases to blast as headlines on their newspaper ( Weber, 2017) . The informative tactics of these journalists could then be compared to the judges or investigators of similar cases. Additionally, it was cumbersome and tedious getting authority to employ other methods of research in certain areas. Since data was collected using more than one method it was difficult collecting the data from different sources. Therefore, efforts at quantitative possibilities convey a lot of a high risk of assumptions and errors.

Methodology

The objective of this research was to determine whether additional development of the Chinese economy can lead to its democratization. A descriptive longitudinal association design was utilized to assess the cultural, educational, and alleged factors that foster rapid Asian economic development ( Weber, 2017) . The leading drive for this analysis was to better comprehend the relationship between economic development and the attainment of political autonomy by the citizens of China.

Data was collected using questionnaire and interviews that were conducted to 1,200 male and female college students, lecturers and staff at the same universities located in New York City. The universities of Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth were randomly selected since they have a highly diverse population within the area. Ethical measures were precisely observed during the development of this study ( Weber, 2017) . An extensive accounting of methodologies was used for this study and thus, will stream under the ethic deliberation, design of the analysis, concept headings, and instrumentation. 

Literature Review

This source is used to show the influence that the political class has on the overall economic growth of the country. China’s economy is strong and grows as it has support from the government (Dalton, 2004). The challenges facing democracy are also shown by this book and likely ways to overcome them.

Foreign Direct Investment

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is defined as the investment capital within a country that offers service and manufacturing proficiencies for the global and local consumers markets. The FDI is a crucial key in making services and goods available in the universal market. Hence, the surging of investment from foreigners is a sign of the confidence that the investors have in the geopolitical climate and the business of a specific country. Moreover, the capital connects the national economies as well. According to Gallager (2002), China has capitalized on the benefits of foreign direct investment which flow to the host country and the supplier of capital. In 2010, the commerce ministry in China announced that the FDI had made a record by surpassing the USD$ 100 billion mark. 

Several paradigms seek to describe democratization about the modifications in the economy as the predecessor to critical liberalization of politics, pinpointing the major causative element in either super-charged economic growth or harsh crisis. However, in China, the Communist Party has disengaged itself from the urban working class social contract from the socialist without wasting its influence on political control. Also, China has continued to retain a steady economic growth for more than two and a half decades without giving out any meaningful political freedom to its people ( Chen, 2002) . The primary feature that has enabled China to reform its economy without impacting on its political powers is the sequencing and timing of the liberalization of the Foreign Domestic Investment.

The liberalization of the FDI has played a significant role in the Chinese reform process as defined by Contagious Capitalism. Initially, it was the competitive pressure placed on the state sector to competently produce more, thus provoking the establishment of improved labor exercises. Then, it permitted politically sensitive and hard labor improvements to be extended to other sections of the economy (Gallagher, 2002). Consequently, it led to one of the main ideological arguments being a reformulation of socialism: the comparative significance of public production. This continual integration of the world economy via the FDI was determinant to a new focus of the argument. The focus was shifted to the concern of the national government deciding the fate of the industry in China.

In the comparison of the other Asian and Eastern European economies with China, the Chinese model of integration into the world market and its configuration of ownership diversification have been the significant aspects that have driven China's economic growth without significant loss of political muscle. Gallagher, (2002) further states that there are so many factors that contribute to the amount of foreign direct investment that flows into China. 

Capital Availability 

Availability of capital that China gains from foreign capital enabled the country to overtake the US as the global leading recipient way back in the 2000s. Many investors were willing to risk their capital in China compared to the United States. 

Competitive Advantage

The development of infrastructure was a huge attraction for foreign investors coupled with the development of the business value chain, workforce, and productivity skills, and availability of the resources. China beat countries like India in attracting the FDI due to their maturation levels in the developmental factors.

Environmental Regulation 

The regulatory body in China created a conducive environment for foreigners to invest in the country. For the investors in China, the startup costs were made bearable by the government even though they were supposed to include a government agency within the company as a partnership venture. Moreover, government-sponsored loans assured small businesses could survive and thrive.

Economic and Political Stability

The aura of stability in the economic and political arena led to the influx of foreign domestic investment in China. As much as the country was faced with criminal activity, kidnappings, violence, counterfeit products and currency, and blackmail, it continued to attract FDI due to the stability of its economy and political environment.

Business Climate and Native Chinese Market

The best thing in China is its astounding market size and population which promise business people with a potential for profitability. Thus, more investors are willing to invest in the country. As more investors invest, the economy grows and attracts even more investors.

Willingness to Trade Internationally and regionally

This openness of the Chinese market makes it possible for business people to be able to sell their services and products both internationally and regionally. Fair taxes on foreign goods make them have a ready local market as overtaxing them could lead to retaliatory taxes on Chinese services and goods abroad.

Asian Values

Even though Asian values are in favor of development, China has used the same values to undermine human rights and democracy. Jung (1994), states that China as part of an East and Southeast Asian nations union denounced democracy and human rights claiming that it was part of a western strategy to affirm economic and political supremacy over Asia. The Asian value sentiments have sparked heated debate with critics arguing that it is the same principles that the west have used that the Asian are applying to gain the currently experienced surge of economic growth. Thus, it makes no sense talking about the Asian values on issues related to democracy while not applying the principles in economic matters.

The critics were later proven to be correct as in the late 1990s, there was a financial crisis in the Asian market, and the upheld values were disregarded as the Asian confidence was put to question. Jung (1994), further points out that it is during this financial crisis that the values of the Asian were utterly disregarded. The writer further notes that the success of the Asian economy had been due to the same reasons that have been used by every other nation to grow their economies. Some of the factors include improved literacy rates, high investments rates, and the shifting of the majority of underemployed rural dwellers into urban settings ( Pei, 1995) . The writer concludes that, during the identified period, the only counties that managed to get out of the crisis safely were those that were more politically free.

Development in the economy is brought about by the fulfillment and subsequent improvement of productivity brought about by proficiency and determination. The combination of technology, labor, and capital embody productivity (Jung, 1994). To expound on the point, the writer gives an example of big businesses maintaining a higher production rate compared to smaller businesses due to the processes employed by the former. Hence, these big businesses are extremely competent and efficiently prepared to capitalize on the economies of scale. Thus, for the same reasons, the businesses are better placed not because of values or culture but the sheer surveillance, intelligence, and the manager's discipline. Similarly, the development of a society economically is attributed to its installation of the correct institutions that upraise competency and proper policies.

Growth and economic development of China were mainly due to the establishment of good policies together with incorruptible and purposive leadership and nothing to do with the Asian values. Langmore and Fitzgerald (2010) note that the Chinese were able to stray away from persistent economic stagnation and poverty because of the leadership of Deng Xiao Ping. Deng’s innovative economic policy and practical philosophy are the main cause of the development and not any values or cultures. Another example cited by the writers is the adoption of a socialistic mixed economy by India’s first Prime Minister immediately following independence. This decision by the Prime Minister turned out to be the worst decision that the leader could take as taxpayers money was squandered after a large segment of the country’s economy was placed under state control.

India’s mistake led to the ownership of important companies that were big by the state. Thus, civil servants with no training were responsible for the management of the state corporations and this decision by the Prime Minister led the country into massive poverty. The government was commonly referred to as the society seeking rent or the permit-quota-license Raj. In this example, Langmore and Fitzgerald (2010) explain that poverty was not brought by the belief in religion or culture but by the inefficiencies and corruption of the system. In the 1960s, India adopted an agricultural reform that was successful and ended up building a robust food security system.

In the early ‘90s, the Indian government made amendments to the stock market by upgrading it and making it more transparent and competitive. These government moves attracted foreign investors to India and also made the country boast of the most modernized stock market compared to all other developing countries. Social change is necessary to establish economic development, and after the required developments have been achieved, the development further initiates more positive changes (Langmore & Fitzgerald, 2010). The writers continue to clarify that the Asian values unlike development, do not encourage social change or the changes accompanied by development. These values are meant to keep the Chinese society and polity from changing and glue them to the despotism of ancient China. 

Education

The significance of education is expressed indirectly in democratic history. After Chairman Mao's death, China changed ideology, and as a result, the main focus of development was technology, agriculture, industry, and national defense. Hence, education was set for training the right personnel to bring about modernization at a faster rate (Lipset, 1959). The government raised academic standards from lower schools to higher learning institutions, with learning institutions that raised their standards were categorized as models for others to copy. These model learning institutions were well funded and enabled to ensure that they had highly qualified teaching staff, and well-equipped laboratories and libraries and subsequently became the standard conveyors of desired education. 

Political control is exercised even in colleges where the school presidents have to be Communist Party Organization members who could not make any decisions. Even though the colleges had s president, deans, vice president and the ilk, Communist Party Organization continued to be the real developers of educational policy. Gradually, the party was pressured to give the faculty members and administrators more power to run the colleges (Lipset, 1959). In China, the intellectuals have always been the transmitters and preservers of Chinese culture. Therefore, the intellectuals always strived to become first rank students so that they could be recognized and awarded honor and positions.

Much later on, intellectuals from China have added a fifth modernization which focused on freedom, democracy, and human rights. Even though this attempt was thwarted, Chinese in the diaspora continued to coordinate and advocate for liberty and political autonomy. Even though their attempts were forcibly suppressed, it shows the beginning of a struggle to liberate the intellectuals from being manipulated by the Communist Party Organization. Lipset (1959), states that education and wealth promote political autonomy, hence improvement in education standards in China will one day lead to a rise in wages. The high salaries will consequently lead to urbanization as the people will have access to increased salaries paid to the educated and eventually industrialization. 

Economic Comparison of China and India

India and China have been identified as the economic giants in Asia. The two economic giants are synonymous with an extremely fast growth rate in the economy as witnessed in the current years. The countries have experienced similar achievements such as an ever- decreasing poverty rate; additionally, they also face common challenges related to the rapid expansionist program that has led to the widening of the gap between the rural-urban dwellers (Marsh, 2017). Further, challenges that have been experienced include environmental degradation. Even though the two Asian countries have experienced remarkable growth in Agriculture, the driving forces behind the achievements are quite different.

Apparently, the economic growth in the two Asian giants will continue to add pressure to the food sector and development of rural areas in order to cater to the dynamic consumer preferences and demands. Hence, the growth of the two countries indicates a direct impact on the direction and balance of trade, and the general availability of trading opportunities for their much smaller neighbors (Marsh, 2017). Therefore, there is a need for an evaluation of the pattern of expansion that these emerging economies are undergoing to allow for policy implementation strategies that will permit capitalization of the benefits and the minimization of the losses as well as marginalization.

India’s democracy and pluralism has been a significant key to fostering the country’s economic success and had allowed the diverse citizenry to be more than ever closely bonded and thus, massive prosperity. On the other hand, China’s dictatorial regime has long term implications to its human resource as described by Marsh (2017), the speed of development is at breakneck and similarly, some of the citizens’ necks will be broken in the attainment of the desired level of development. In China, dissidence in whatever form be it artistic, democratic, or political, is practically and theoretically against the law and most always excessive force is applied in dealing with such matters. As much as India is democratic, it has failed to offer its citizens with basic requirements, and the government is known to use alternative means to silence dissidents and deny them their political rights. 

The Role of Education in Democracy

Through education, humankind has been able to fabricate democratic values and ideas and thereby to make education the core of democratic developments. The more a citizenry gains knowledge and becomes enlightened, the louder that citizenry will voice for its political rights (Nathan, & Shi, 1993). Therefore, it is essential that every nation conduct civic education as no meaningful change can be attained with a lack of democratic principles and values. And if possible, basic knowledge such as principles of democracy, the know-how of the federation and constitutional rights, should be incorporated into the curriculum of every country. Such an act could be helpful to spread awareness about the electoral process, and thus every citizen would be able to exercise their democratic right to vote for the candidate of their choice. 

Democracy and Economic Growth

The relationship between economic development and democracy has extremely close ties, even though people have varying opinions regarding the type of relationship between the two. When a non-democratic regime is democratized, normally a fall in the gross domestic product precedes a volatile growth that is expected in the long run ( Pei, 1995) . On the contrary, the non-democratic regime can effectively implement choices and decisive policies together with the resolution of national and ethnic conflicts but are typically not sustainable in the long run. The main reason for the lack of sustainability is the enticement to wring taxes from the society that in turn spearheads less development (Przeworski, 1999). Policies and institutions lay the foundations for democracy through the principles of equality and liberty followed and designed, and hence, they either indirectly or directly impact on companies and individuals who derive benefit from them. Consequently, they increase their growth and this has a positive impact on the economy.

When compared to autocracy, the positive alterations of democracy to economic development far outweigh the restrictive and negative effects. The primary reason is that voters are able to support changes when there’s no perceived alternative by supporting hard tradeoffs. This particular kind of voter support is mostly present in societies with a high level of literacy rates (Przeworski, 1999). Thus, it is indicative of the level of development of a nation as part of the decisive way to go through positive changes in reforms and democracy. Therefore, the countries that are more likely to further democratization process through high rates of literacy have a better potential of furthering their democracy.

Can China Gain Political Reforms?

As much as China is in need of democratic reforms in order to loosen the tight party grip, it is not clear whether the political changes would bring along economic growth for the country. Many are of the view that the Chinese economy cannot innovate or modernize continuously in the absence of more liberty of thought and demonstration comprising the political areas (Thomas, 2016). The possibility of political reforms is achievable but not soon. Democracy should first be left to take its roots in China and eventually like South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia, will evolve towards more political liberty. These Asian countries had similar characteristics that included increasing standards of education, a rising middle class, and global interaction.

The government of China might be considered to have performed poorly in relation to how it handles its politics, but it could be because most of its leaders are engineers and have not the political background. Because of the lack of political background, the leaders deal best with dissent by throwing people in jail and prefer having the lid on things (Thomas, 2016). The leaders have on the contrary been exceptionally proficient in the management of the economy, a reason as to why the Chinese have been more competent in having more leverage globally. The leaders who are very intelligent compared to most of the world leaders are extremely precise at identifying environmental challenges, solving problems, prophesizing infrastructure bottlenecks, and setting a vision for the economy.

The communist party might have a tight grip on the political activities in China, but they are facing challenges that might force them to adopt democracy albeit at a small rate. An example of the challenges they face is corruption, which some of the leaders are hopeless in regards to ending the vice (Thomas, 2016). They have tried extremely hard to the extent of sentencing corrupt officials to death, but the vice is stuck and seems to be never-ending. One of the major reasons is the lack of freedom of speech that has been imposed on the regular citizenry and which is now making it hard for the government to utilize. In most societies, whistleblowers and the press have been in the forefront reporting instances of corruption but not in China. 

The lack of a political party to oppose or rival the ruling party has also been a contributing factor to the prevailing corruption among state officials. Thomas (2016), points out that some few officials within the party feel that with the political system being a top-down, no meaningful achievement is going to be realized. He further states that these few officials at least are for the idea of a parliamentary political system at the local level at least. In Taiwan, the introduction of democracy began by the election of mayors; hence the approach by the few state officials could be the beginning of the introduction of democracy into China. 

Discussion

A majority of the 1,200 subjects interviewed through the questionnaire showed a positive longitudinal correlation about the subject of Economic development and democratization specifically in China. The results were relatively steadier amongst male subjects compared to their female counterparts ( Weber, 2017) . From the 1,200 randomly selected subjects, 600 were male while 600 were female. Out of the 600 females, 400 were students, 100 lecturers while the remaining 100 were staff from different levels of the institutions. Similarly, 400 male students were selected at random for the study and 200 male lecturers together a non-teaching staff. 

The approval from the interviewees was exclusively gotten before the beginning of the research, and complete discretion was guaranteed to them. From the selected cluster, 70% of the male students and lectures knew the subject while 83% of the non-teaching staff had little or no knowledge regarding the subject. Females also indicated the same trends with 66% of the students and lecturers knowing the subject matter while 72% of the non-teaching staff did not know ( Weber, 2017) . The data collected also indicated that 25% of the respondents felt that more economic development would bring no democracy to China while 92% had the opinion that economies and democracy were highly interrelated.

The collected data included respondents in the following percentile 9% whites, 6% blacks, 5% Hispanics, and 80% Asian. The respondents indicated that they had a strong belief that the Communist Party would soon lose the firm grip it now holds on political matters ( Weber, 2017) . Both the male and female respondents had the feeling that with increased civic education more democratic changes would be realized. The lecturers though had a varying opinion regarding China’s ability to gain political liberty. Most were of the opinion that even if democracy is realized in China, it might take a long period. However, if the process is catalyzed, then the results can be catastrophic with the country losing its economic dominance.

Conclusion

A shared talking point for a majority of scholars is that economic development cannot spearhead to democratization but will prolong the prevailing communist regime since economic development can divert the citizen’s focus from autocracy. However, this study found this belief to be true and that the increasing levels of education amongst the masses will finally prevail just like in neighboring Thailand ( Weber, 2017) . From the findings attained, there is a negative longitudinal correlation between economic development and democracy, and hence, the more developed China continues to be, the more oppressed the Chinese will be like the Communist party members will be striving to achieve more economic development.

The findings further indicated that Asian values had been used only as a ploy to get the citizens to support the various oppressive methodologies. The Asian values have no connection with the economic or political, but rather could be used as a unifying factor and an awakening call for the citizens to push harder for political liberty (Chakrabarty, 2018). The citizen should not be dazed by the development as the country can achieve more when there is national freedom of expression and speech. It is only through such liberty that high-end corruption can be brought down to its knees. There is a need to conduct more research that would reexamine the theory that economic development can initiate democratization in countries. 

References

Chakrabarty, B. (2018). Designing constitutional democracy in India. Constitutional Democracy in India, 75-99. doi:10.4324/9781315147833-4

Cheibub, J. A., Gandhi, J., & Vreeland, J. R. (2009). Democracy and dictatorship revisited. Public Choice, 143(1-2), 67-101. doi:10.1007/s11127-009-9491-2

Chen, An. (2002). "Capitalist development, entrepreneurial class, and democratization in China."  Political science quarterly  117.3: 401-422.

Dalton, R. J. (2004). Economic Performance and Political Support.  Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices,  111-127. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199268436.003.0006

Gallagher, M. E. (2002). “Reform and Openness”: Why China's Economic Reforms Have Delayed Democracy. World Politics, 54(03), 338-372. doi:10.1353/wp.2002.0009

Jung, K. D. (1994). Is culture destiny? The myth of Asia's anti-democratic values. Foreign Affairs, 189-194.

Langmore, J., & Fitzgerald, S. (2010). Global Economic Governance: Addressing the democratic deficit.  Development,   53 (3), 390-393. doi:10.1057/dev.2010.35

Lipset, S. M. (1959). Some social requisites of democracy: Economic development and political legitimacy. American political science review, 53(1), 69-105.

Marsh, I. (2017). Economic Development and Democratic Consolidation: Patterns in East and Southeast Asian Countries.  International Development Governance,  105-126. doi:10.4324/9781315092577-6

Nathan, A. J., & Shi, T. (1993). Cultural requisites for democracy in China: findings from a survey. Daedalus, 122(2), 95-123.

Pei, M. (1995). " Creeping Democratization" in China.  Journal of Democracy ,  6 (4), 65-79.

Przeworski, A. (1999). Minimalist conception of democracy: a defense. Democracy’s value, 23.

Thomas, C. (2016). The Prospect of Democracy: China’s Possibility of Political Reform.

Weber, M. (2017).  Methodology of social sciences , New York: Routledge.