Eric X. Li: A tale of two political systems

It's a standard assumption in the West: As a society progresses, it eventually becomes a capitalist, multi-party democracy. Right? Eric X. Li, a Chinese investor and political scientist, begs to differ. In this provocative, boundary-pushing talk, he asks his audience to consider that there's more than one way to run a succesful modern nation.

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[patience]

man, the way how he explains is so fucking mindblowing. i am a political science student in indonesia and never have i ever heard this kind of mini lecture which can literally explain this so flawlessly.

[OlaAluko]

"Democracy is becoming a perpetual cycle of elect and regret."

[tomimn]

I think the point he was trying to make was:

'USA and EU pls stop installing Beta/Pre-Patch electoral-based programs in countries that don't even meet the lowest system requirement or has incompatible Operating System and then cuts off customer support, leaving those countries flabbergasted trying to troubleshoot crashes and figuring out the bugs and glitches.'

[Abraham-ukxy]

I admire this guy. He studied at Berkeley and Stanford and remained proudly and patriotic Chinese.

[beshr]

About time somebody said that! Thank you, Eric.
We, in the Middle East, have had enough of imitating one system after another and failing; we need to carve our own path based on our own cultural, historical and geopolitical values like China did.

[xaxhdlogs]

It's almost 10 years now, Eric is winning his bet.

[n]

I think the key difference is cultural. China was a meritocratic society (with the exception of its absolute head, the emperor who inherited his throne) during its dynastic reign. The civil service was based on examinations and the candidate's ability to lead. However, Western scholars and media often focus on the autocratic nature of the emperor and not its pool of civil servants. Eric Li is demonstrating a system that's not too different from that. Meritocracy and accountability are the keys to creating a peaceful and modern society in my opinion and political systems have to evolve with technology and the constantly changing needs of the masses. It doesn't matter what the political system is in name.

[stephenyu]

Years ago, this has millions of views already, thanks to YT censorship, now it passes 800, 000.

[francislee]

[22.07.28] Watched this video again, and I found Eric missed something very important dearly!
He said "... In just 30 years China went from one of the poorest agricultural country in the world to a 2nd largest economy!"
What he missed was "PEACEFULLY!"

[javierwagner]

10 years later and he got 1/3 predictions correct, the one about corruption. However, what i think is the most valuable message, which he mentions at the end, is that there are many potential political system designs that can achieve "success" or goals as we define them. I think that is the new paradigm that many people in the comments miss. He is not saying do what China is doing, he is saying, there is not a single design to solve the governance problem.

[joshtep]

I enjoyed this man. He was articulate without stepping on toes while at the same time breaking the ice. The moral of this story is that, imposed systems of governments do not work especially if it is suggested that there is only one alternative. Results speak louder than rhetoric.

[theunprofessionalleon]

Seem like only the extreme comments can get more likes nowadays, this TED Talk is not really about which political system is better, the speaker was just asking us to abandon metanarrative thoughts about democracy by showing us some facts about chinese political system that are not known by people in other nations.

[samcresswell]

"If they would spend just a little less time trying to force their way on others and a little bit more on political reform at home, they might give democracy a better chance."
The sad thing is, this pretty much sums up the US. Due to polarisation, gerrymandering, special interest groups and political apathy, the US is gradually becoming less democratic in many respects.

[XhekajFacePunch]

His prediction about moving to the top 60 in TI rankings in 10 years is spot on. With one year to go, China has improved to 63, after going +3 on the year.

[jayceh]

The problem with democracy is that given an undereducated electorate, it's those who are good at running for office who are elected, not those who can actually govern.
Those two skills are generally unrelated.

[SabrinaFeng-nd]

This is a lecture that all political science and all other open-minded human beings need to heared

[soniasummer]

Watching it again now on Jan 21, 2021. I couldn't agree more with what Eric has said! Beautiful speech

[pandabearoceanpark]

Wow! just found this and watching the recording 8 years later. His analysis and prediction is right on the money!

[asd-xh]

Democracy needs rational people, which rarely exist online

[ce]

8:25 impressive. Here in America, we're entirely dominated by princelets. Incompetent, but have connections and money. That's what's valued here - appearances