Democracy is shrinking around the world, so as much as we like the concept theoretically, we should probably remove it from the definition of "stable". China se

Democracy is shrinking around the world, so as much as we like the concept theoretically, we should probably remove it from the definition of "stable". China seems quite stable too. And Kazakhstan is not quite locked down like North Korea. You were thinking Turkmenistan, or just projecting your prejudice towards all Central Asia. It is not without problems, of course.