MADRID – The triumph of democracy and market-based economics – the “End of History,” as the American political philosopher Francis Fukuyama famously called it – which was proclaimed to be inevitable with the fall of the Berlin Wall, soon proved to be little more than a mirage. However, following China’s intellectual pirouette to maintain one-party rule while embracing the capitalist credo, history’s interpreters shifted their focus to the economy: not everybody would be free and elect their government, but capitalist prosperity would hold sway worldwide.
马德里—柏林墙倒塌后，人们一度认为民主和市场经济的胜利是不可阻挡的——美国政治哲学家福山（Francis Fukuyama）非常著名地将称之为“历史的终结”——但很快，人们发现，这纯属一种幻想。然而，中国在意识形态上的长袖善舞——既坚持一党执政，又采用资本主义信条——让历史解读家们将注意力转向了经济：不是所有人都有自由选择自己的政府，但资本主义繁荣可以支配全世界。