Nevertheless, I still belive that the principles of freedom and democracy, if NOT confused with westernization or capitalization, will always have rooms in every society. I don't disagree, but we have to understand one thing: The democratci values and traditions from Umma (islamic community) to Panchayat (village councils) are not capable of adjusting to democarcy as we uinderstand the word today. If you want to implant a modern concpet in a mediveal setting, its not going to work. So to have the modern concept work, you don't have to westernize the society, but modernize the society, and only the economic growth fosters modernization by making education available to the masses. " Being free does not, and should not, mean being Western, nor does it mean embracing capitalism. There are societies that strongly uphold their traditional values (e.g. Japan) and have strong socialist influence in their economies (e.g. many european countries) that have done extremely well because they have chosen to set their people free. I am aware of the fact that few countries have been exceptions to this, but as I and others have already explained above, those countries had other exceptional advantages that allowed them to maneuver their political and social processes whatever way they chose. Still, regardless of how economically prosperous they may be, I wonder if Chinese or Singaporean people are as equally developed in terms of human growth, i.e., in terms of psychological and emotional aspects of life. " japanbese democracy works because Japan started the modernization process in 1864 under the rubric of Fukoku Kyohei (rich nation, powerful army) and Bunmei Kaika, which led to Japan's modernization, not westernization and its economic/industrial growth (of course this all later proved disastrous for Japan). I think the Chinese and Singaporeans are equal to the Japanese or others, if they were not, their nations wouldn't have achieved this tremendous economic growth. And only the countries with emotionally mature populations can achieve what China has achieved in the last 25 years. My view.