The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has selected the country’s next leaders. The leadership transition, however, will be formalized only with the consent of the National People’s Congress (NPC)—a puppet parliament with highly predictable voting patterns. Officially the highest state body in China, the NPC is mostly a showcase of democratic mimicry.

This imitation of democracy implies broader questions about democracy in China. Will China democratize? Can China democratize? But perhaps we are we asking the wrong question. What if democracy in China does not bring the desired outcomes?

A burgeoning middle class and a more active civil society may be the seeds of future change. In early 2012, semi-free elections in Wukan demonstrated that local-level Chinese governments can be receptive to civil protests. But semi-free elections are the only thing resembling democracy in China to date.

Read Here – The National Interest