Democracy Comes Second

This is really interesting. The author of this article discusses the fact that democratization, should follow economic liberalization and not the opposite. He states that

A democracy born in an open economic environment, with a well functioning market system, widespread foreign direct investment, and sizeable international trade, is likely to consolidate economic liberalism, stabilize expectations, and hence lead to more investment and faster growth. Conversely, if an economy is tightly controlled by the state, has protectionist barriers against foreign imports and capital movements, or relies on rents from exhaustible resources to obtain foreign currency, transition to democracy can be plagued by populism and struggles for redistribution, hurting economic growth.

(Via Arts & Letters Daily)