Re:China’s 'Thought Transformation' Camps [video]
by vorpalhex on Tuesday June 18, 2019 @01:54PM
(#20216078)
But economic sanctions do produce outcomes, and economic effects are why some areas of China have the freedom they do.
At the same time, it seems hard to imagine that economic effects alone are enough for the core of a government to change, and even if it did, at what cost to its people?
Re:China’s 'Thought Transformation' Camps [video]
by jandrese on Tuesday June 18, 2019 @02:01PM
(#20216228)
Even if the government officials were so distressed by the costs of the economic sanctions on their people that they offered to step down, who would be an acceptable replacement? Some puppet ruler that would sell the country to multinational corporations so they can exploit its resources and people?
One of the problems with democracies is that they're really hard to get started. There are a lot of institutions that need to be in place before they really work, and rushing right to elections just ends up with the same old assholes staying in power because that's all anybody knows.
If you're talking about a place with a functioning Democracy then they could be voted out, but virtually every other form of government pretty much requires a coup, disaster, or outstandingly benevolent ruler to step aside. And when a ruler is benevolent nobody is really clamoring to change the government, it's only when total assholes are in charge.
Worse, power vacuums tend to attract the most opportunistic and corrupt. Rarely do they have the public interest in mind. Any time you see a leadership ousted by a coup you know it's only going to get worse in that country.