The question of whether China is really the future keeps invading conversations and interviews. In history, only a few trailing nations really became hegemonic. Surpassing the world power of the times is not a question of population, tall buildings, or currency. Something really transformational has to take hold and grow in a non-obvious way to the point that it can't be copied until it is too late.
China's economical growth has become the future for the rest of the world. This is not the same as the world's power.
The fact that the US political system survives every crisis for centuries just to come out stronger is an inexplicable phenomenon. The great majority of the countries in the world are not built with the sacred check and balances on which the US was founded.
What will China do after its continued growth? Will it be flexible enough to allow new industries that never existed before? Would old industries that supply the power and wealth for decades be let to wind down as other new faces become the new centers of influence?
Bobbio is an Italian academic and philosopher that was given the honorary title of lifetime Senator. He was born in 1909 and died in 2004. This is enough of a life to have seen it all. He maintained his views, his political position and status throughout every type of regime: socialism, fascism, democracy, civil war, political strife, and occupation.
Bobbio lists the two major characteristics of a democratic system (economical or political):
- The Will of the majority rules
- The existence of the unstoppable possibility of a minority to become the majority
