There are lots of mistaken beliefs around democracy. US foreign policy seems to at least pay lip service to the idea that democracy is inherently good. But eff

There are lots of mistaken beliefs around democracy. US foreign policy seems to at least pay lip service to the idea that democracy is inherently good. But efforts to impose democracy on nations that have only ever been autocratic seems to have a poor history. Likewise others have mentioned that China is "proof" that economic growth doesn't lead to democracy. China I think is a really interesting case. When I compare China and India, which are both developing nations of massive size (over a billion people each), it seems to be as an outsider looking in that the Chinese are way better off than the Indians despite China being ostensibly communist and India ostensibly democratic. This is likely to be a controversial statement. This doesn't excuse the bad on either side. China has the annexation of China, lack of a free press, labour camps, the almost industrial scale genocide of baby girls and poor labour conditions to name a few. India has a huge problem with poverty, a population growth rate that's really concerning, a real problem with rape (at least in parts) and a ridiculous territorial ego fest with Pakistan over Kashmir. But what the Chinese have, which I think ultimately benefits citizens, is political stability. While China is still called a Communist country it's unlike any other Communist country I've ever seen in that there are markets, a form of capitalism and the accumulation of private wealth. What I also see is the topping of totalitarian regimes in places like Iraq and Libya. This is part of the reason fro the current refugee crisis in Europe. And as awful as I'm sure the al-Asaad regime is in Syria, has anyone really benefitted from the prolonged civil war in Syria? So anyway, North Korea. It's certainly another interesting case and it has managed to survive when other such regimes have fallen by the wayside. This is in large part to China. Powerful countries like buffers between other powerful countries. Russia certainly wanted and wants one with the EU and NATO. North Korea also survives by a strict and brutal control on information so I'm happy to see efforts people make to smuggle even things like TV shows into North Korea. These I do think ultimately help to weaken the regime but the process is not quick. I don't think that North Korea--or anywhere else--is ultimately bound for democracy however.