The Advantages of American-Style Elections Are Slipping Away

Obama and Romney held their second televised debate on Oct. 16, not only attracting a U.S. audience, but also drawing some Chinese viewers who understand English through Internet broadcasts. The reaction of the latter group was largely positive, expressing their admiration of American-style democracy. Data from the Pew Research Center claims that the vast majority of Chinese believe that China is moving in the right direction, but also that 52 percent of respondents have positive impressions of American-style democracy.

American-style democracy has always held a certain attraction for people in non-Western countries, and there are indeed quite a few Chinese who view it favorably. Also worthy of note is that this kind of positive impression or admiration is not as sensitive of an issue in Chinese society as it was in the past; the blow to Chinese politics from these kinds of sentiments is shrinking.

An important reason within that may be that Chinese appreciation for American-style democracy is increasing in a manner similar to Chinese appreciation for beautiful scenery while visiting Western cities. The number of people who believe that China should actually become politically more like the U.S. is decreasing, just as with the amount of people who believe that China’s path should become more like the West’s.

In the 30 years since reforms, the Chinese have increased in experience and knowledge; having gained a better frame of reference for making judgments, many Chinese can already automatically and clearly mark the difference between admiring something and going to do it themselves. There are many things in this world which look good, but we already know that we do not have to imitate everything.

The U.S. presidential debates are quite entertaining; the ratings of some countries’ televised debates are even higher than their voter turnouts. These trials-by-fire first and foremost allow the best orators and debaters in those countries to be chosen. Western politicians are adept at stringing together clever lines, one benefit of which is that it makes politics livelier and not quite so dry.

The U.S. general election in particular is skillfully played — at times going to extremes, but also at times understated — and is often held up as the “model” for Western political civilization. Elections and the societies of every nation shape each other. Whether or not an election progresses smoothly can often decide a country’s basic outlook.

However, when this process is applied globally, the overall risks are high. Those who live in Western societies today are extremely fortunate. Their predecessors completed the stage of “primitive accumulation” for democracy and bore the heavy societal costs which non-Western countries are just now experiencing. Even more fortunate smaller countries have bypassed that stage completely. Today, from Asia to Africa and Latin America, multitudes of social conflicts revolve around elections; the correlation between Western-style elections and prosperity is shaky at best.

From a historical perspective, Western-style elections have been equally good and bad with respect to choice of leadership, with a significant element of luck that can cause grave missteps. Its true significance lies in avoiding dictatorship. In the age when dictatorships were prevalent, the advantages of Western-style democratic systems were nearly absolute. However, the interaction between globalization and political civilization has gradually torn down dictators across the world and the essence of democracy has, through various paths and forms, been applied in numerous non-Western countries. The advantages of Western-style elections are slipping away.

Enthusiasm for democracy within Chinese society is on the rise. Furthermore, the Chinese have already moved on from their earliest vague ideas and become clearer and more resolute on walking their own path towards developing democracy. Now, most Chinese already do not trust that democracy can be transplanted, nor that it will come like manna from heaven by simply setting down laws. We already clearly understand that democracy can only come step by step and that it must be the sum of many other improvements in China.

It is precisely because of this that we hold an admiration similar to appreciating beautiful scenery when watching the U.S. election, but at the same time, we now have the ability to see its flaws and inadequacies. For example, it is too much of a war of words requiring U.S. politicians to prioritize their public image, which was not the original intent of the elections system.

Chinese people should be open-minded about appreciating and learning from others’ strengths. However, at the same time, Chinese society must have its own ideas and opinions, and know generally where we stand and where we want to go. We must clearly understand that there is absolutely no ready-made model in this world for moving a great nation of 1.3 billion people forward.