>”Not even China’s biggest defenders in Germany are pretending any longer that economic prosperity will turn Asia’s juggernaut into a Western-style democracy, an idea known as “transformation through trade” that has been propagated by German executives and politicians since the Cold War.
>The sober assessment is that ‘transformation through trade’ has reached its limits,” the BDI concluded. “The expectation that global economic interdependence would automatically facilitate the spread and development of market economies and democratic structures has not come to pass.”
Not the fastest or sharpest thinkers, but they’re getting there.
I think it was/is a convenient lie to believe. You can avoid confrontation and the business lobby stays happy by acting like you’re “facilitating conversation” by selling Audis. Meanwhile you can afford to care less about domestic/EU economic performance if you can get all income from exports.
2 comments
>”Not even China’s biggest defenders in Germany are pretending any longer that economic prosperity will turn Asia’s juggernaut into a Western-style democracy, an idea known as “transformation through trade” that has been propagated by German executives and politicians since the Cold War.
>The sober assessment is that ‘transformation through trade’ has reached its limits,” the BDI concluded. “The expectation that global economic interdependence would automatically facilitate the spread and development of market economies and democratic structures has not come to pass.”
Not the fastest or sharpest thinkers, but they’re getting there.
I think it was/is a convenient lie to believe. You can avoid confrontation and the business lobby stays happy by acting like you’re “facilitating conversation” by selling Audis. Meanwhile you can afford to care less about domestic/EU economic performance if you can get all income from exports.