> It was believed that economic development would result in a growing middle class and in turn a demand for more political freedom, that enormous authoritariani

> It was believed that economic development would result in a growing middle class and in turn a demand for more political freedom, that enormous authoritarianism would ultimately be unsustainable, and that the moral thing to do was to not be too hard on these billion+ people most of whom were highly impoverished. Maybe, just maybe, these people were a little too confident because the USSR had just collapsed.