Democracy loses ground to autocracy

[Skybird]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...558832,00.html

We are not hearing calls from Asia and Africa for a Western-style separation of powers in government or for press freedom. People there have grown cynical. There have not been improvements in the standard of living in places where democracy is loudly propagated, such as the Philippines. Rising food prices (dictated by global markets), incompetent governments and rampant corruption have made a farce of the institutions that are allegedly working for the people.
Progress has been made, on the other hand, with the Chinese model. Its increasingly open economic system and closed political system seem attractive to many Third World countries. Personal happiness is not defined in terms of free elections, a free press or freedom of assembly, but rather in terms of opportunities for economic advancement. According to recent polls taken by social scientists at the World Values Survey, people in Moldova, a poor but formally democratic country, are among the least happy in the world, while the inhabitants of the People's Republic of China, a one-party state, are among the most optimistic.