A Reflection on Last Week's Articles

Although written in two different times about slightly different subjects, The Elephant and the Dragon and "What Can Beijing Learn From Moscow" have some overlapping points. Both authors are concerned with the instability as the result of dissenters. Meredith says that the gap between rural and urban Chinese causes a rise in demonstrations and instability. Buruma focuses more on the danger of such a large mass of people taking control in a violent revolt. Such revolts have been part of Chinese history and there is that underlying fear. Both authors agree that the economic transition has changed the class system in China, although Buruma says the new middle class has not led to civil society.

Meredith addresses the corruption and its relation to economic development in a section of the book on India. During the 1970s and 1980s, when bizarre and restraining economic laws had been put into place, corruption was widespread since many of the laws required a license to be obtained and one usually needed to use bribery or other corrupt methods. Buruma suggests that corruption is endemic and perhaps inevitable in any transition to democracy, given the new opportunities for making money and taking advantage of people. Buruma also notes that Russians claim their brand of democracy is less destructive because it is out in the open and discussed, while presumably the Chinese keep it hidden.

Both authors agree that transitions to capitalism have a number of possible issues with the population. However, neither seems to suggest that the problems of corruption will be endless and problematic for the future of the system. The issue of dissent, though, is the big unknown and the possible serious problem. Imagine if all the rural Chinese revolted. There could be huge implications for the global market as well as domestic security.