> The realist argument would probably be that reforming to a justice system with some integrity and adopting some policies to score consecutive years of 10% gro

> The realist argument would probably be that reforming to a justice system with some integrity and adopting some policies to score consecutive years of 10% growth was all they needed to keep treading water. "all they needed" - as if that's easy to achieve consistently for decades. In the end what killed it was the combination of stagnation and the ability to freely talk about it.