Optimists believe that new technologies and modes of governance will resolve all problems and send democracies centered on the nation-state the way of the horse-drawn carriage. Pessimists fear that today’s liberal democracies will be no match for the external challenges mounted by illiberal states like China and Russia, which are guided only by hardnosed realpolitik.
乐观者相信新的治国技术和模式能够解决所有问题，让以民族国家为核心的民主成为明日黄花。悲观者担心今天的自由民主无法应对中国和俄罗斯等以蛮横的现实政治为指导原则的不自由国家所造成的外部挑战。无论如何，民主想要有未来，就必须反思。