Democracy, Corporations and China

Whenever the issue of China comes up, the West invariably brings up the twin issues of democracy and free speech. These are not only considered as important cultural values, but are also projected as being critical to long-term economic growth and innovation. One of the regular questions being floated around is: “Can innovation happen in China without free speech?” The
implication being that it will remain the factory to the world and nothing more.

This may be dangerously misleading. Consider this:

There is a large (and important) part of the West that doesn’t believe in, and doesn’t practice, either democracy or free speech. It’s called the Corporation.

A few wise men (the board/senior management) make the decisions; the rest have to execute it. Censorship? You bet! Monitoring your activities? Of course! Snooping your email. Sure! Hauling you up for criticizing your company in your blog? Thank your stars you are not fired!

There are too many similarities between the way China is run and the way a Western corporation is run. In fact, the fundamental reason for the similarity is the same: efficiency and productivity.

Yet, corporations have survived, innovated and thrived. I guess China will do so as well.

I do not condone military-backed authoritarian regimes. Give me my anarchic, chaotic, colorful democracy any day. But I think that we may be making a big mistake by questioning China’s economic future because we don’t like its socio-political beliefs.

Let me add a few more observations from China. One of the indicators of the “liberal index” of any country is the length of a woman’s skirt. They are deliciously short in China. Another is the attitude towards alcohol. Freely available. There is enough skin on TV. Porn is available on the streets. Sex is always a possibility. When these are coupled with low crime, great infrastructure and the hope of making more money tomorrow than you are making today, there is a high possibility that you may get a society that is not actually interested in expressing political views.