Extremists get shit done. When was the last time voting ever solved anything?
It regularly does, social-democracy seems to generally ensure better living condition to its people. I don’t see any extreme left or right regime that provided better conditions than social-democracies.
“Better conditions than social-democracies” is a tall order considering that most (every?) Marxist-Leninist state was formed in impoverished, exploited countries, and have frequently been targeted by sanctions, boycotts, and so on. If you told a Chinese peasant in the 40’s that their country’s life expectancy would someday exceed that of the US, they’d call you a liar. Certainly it wasn’t about to happen under the Nationalists or anybody else.
Not everyone is allowed to have social democracy. For example, Norway’s economy benefits greatly from their oil revenues, but in much of the world, the presence of oil resources is called an “oil curse,” because Western governments destabilize and overthrow governments that bring those profits back to the people. When Iran’s left-leaning (but not communist) government in the 50’s tried to reclaim control of their oil from their British colonial overlords, the CIA did a coup and installed a fascist. There are countless other stories of this happening all around the world.
No country has lifted more people out of poverty and extreme poverty than China. Granting developing countries a second option for investment is an enormous boon for the world, especially since China is much less restrictive over other countries’ domestic economic policies compared to the IMF.
This is why I would argue that, even if you disagree with China’s system, if you want any other system besides capitalism to be available to people in the developing world, then you should recognize that China is furthering that goal. I don’t consider China’s system to be perfect or ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve read enough history to see more ideal systems get crushed time and again.
Do social democracies also ensure better living conditions for the impoverished nations they continue to exploit so they can support their own standards of living?
I don’t see any extreme left or right regime that provided better conditions than social-democracies.
I’m not sure what you define as an “extreme regime” but you can try looking at Cuba, China, or the USSR, for starters.
I think they could improve their impact on developing nations, especially if we consider the impact of colonialism, but otherwise, yes, I think they contribute to their economic growth which keeps lifting people out of poverty.
It doesn’t seem like USSR or Cuba’s people had on average better lives than in social-democracies. For China, I think it’s getting better, mostly thanks to the intense economical ties with the rest of the world that they tied once they decide to abandon the communist economy. However, they continue having notable issues with authoritarianism, which seem to be getting worse with the current leader.
