China´s new intelligentsia/ China´s Democracy on Hold

Someone sent me these interesting papers about China:

Prospect Magazine
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/
March 2008 144
" China 's new intelligentsia"
Mark Leonard

“Despite the global interest in the rise of China , no one is paying much attention to its ideas and who produces them. Yet China has a surprisingly lively intellectual class whose ideas may prove a serious challenge to western liberal hegemony…”

….. http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10078

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The Centre for Independent Studies
www.cis.org.au

CIS Issue Analysis 95
"Putting Democracy in China on Hold"
John Lee

“ China ’s transformation from the backward, autocratic economy of just three decades ago is probably the most spectacular and rapid in history. It is inevitable that this extraordinary economic development will have dramatic consequences for Chinese society and politics. Most important are the rise of the middle classes and the institutionalisation of social, economic, and ultimately political systems that reflect the greater standards of accountability, transparency, and rule of law needed for the successful operation of free markets. Many say that these developments serve as the drivers of political liberalisation and democratisation. This argument, that free-market reforms and rising prosperity will inevitably and imminently bring democracy to China , is a mainstay of Western engagement with the country.

Since the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, China is now three times as rich, but seemingly further away from political reform than it was then. China is no longer seen as the last great authoritarian domino waiting to fall. It is now perceived more as a new and sustainable model for autocrats everywhere—from Asia to Africa and South America —to learn from.

This paper begins by examining the case for why many believe democratisation in China is imminent. But it goes on to argue that this confidence is premature, if not misplaced, and that the impetus for democracy has been lost over the past two decades…”

..... http://www.cis.org.au/issue_analysis/IA95/ia95.html#1