> Because nothing much that a liberal centrist like Stiglitz would label
> "democratization" has occurred under the reform-era CPC, save
> the direct election of town and village party chiefs (with all the
> candidates being vetted by the CPC in advance).
Hmm, Stiglitz is fairly to the Left as economists go, so maybe he said something about liberalization which got misinterpreted as being about political liberalization, as opposed to liberalizing markets, which is a different beast altogether.
In fairness to China, the place has experienced enormous democratization since 1979. Yes, the one-party state still exists, but civil society is flourishing, there's a vast mass media, quite open dissent and debate in the digital commons, etc. It's not even in the same universe as North Korea.
-- DRR