I don't know about Cuba, but it seems pretty bad, and North Korea is of course a sick perverted society dependent entirely on force to stay in power, but the other two surviving "Communist" societies are not really Communist except that the parties use ideology as a source of legitimacy. Their real legitimacy, however, is not Communist talking points but economic progress, and both societies are doing extremely well. There are ups and downs but believe me the vast majority of the population is happy with things as they are.
Both governments however do have tigers by the tail and I would predict someday the parties there will suffer the consequences. If your legitimacy is based on the ability to deliver material improvement, all economies suffer ups and downs, and more and more the world is getting linked so the world economy suffers ups and downs. A political system that has a different source of legitimacy (where for example the States is "legitimate" because the people elect the officials -- in a huge, largely fraudulent, farce), an economic downturn or some other disaster is not as big a threat.
No comments:
Post a Comment