Hikado

Mann tests the common belief among Americans that China will become democratic, just as long as, we keep helping China become more economically advanced. The theory is that if we continue to allow China to become members of the UN and in other organizations composed of developed nations, this country, will gradually move towards becoming more democratic by continuing to be exposed to democratic nations and their leaders. Nevertheless, we could argue just because we are continuing to help China develop economically, this might not make them democratic. Instead, we are just making them more wealth while their authoritarian governance continues to exist in their political system.
Many Post - Soviet Union nations attempted to transform their authoritarian political systems once Russia collapsed in the 1990s. Every authoritarian state faced some major problems during their transition towards democracy. Most post Soviet states are not fully democratic in their governance, but they would be considered as being partially democratic nations. Uzbekistan continues to struggle with democracy in their country. Despite continually claims by their leader, President Karimov that his country is democratic, there continues to be predominant traces of the old Soviet style of rule being used throughout his state.
One of the difficulties associated with transforming an authoritarian government into a democratic one rests in the political culture and history of the country. For instance, the electoral system is an institution of democracy and many proclaimed democracies in several regions of the world conduct elections, but they are not legitimate under the United Nations standards.
In authoritarian countries like China, some of the people may not know what democracy is. The word "democracy" is like some abstract concept that they do not understand, because they have never lived or experienced what it is like to be apart of a democratic system, when they have been living under an authoritarian system their whole lives.
Mann does discuss how China has evolved and changed dramatically over the years. The author does a superb job outlining the historical and political aspects of China within the context of world events. Mann gives his readers a short, concise background to the US-China relations throughout the Regan years up to the present time period. His historical time line is not at all dry or boring for any non-historical bluff. It is a great read for any human rights, international relations, or political science enthusiasts. Mann concludes with a broad optimistic solution to the problem where he believes there needs to be a greater need from the Chinese population to pressure their state into bringing a greater degree of democratic measures in to the country. He is confident the growing young, intelligent, middle class generation will spark this democratic revolution in China.