> The authoritarianism of China allows it to undertake generational projects of immense scale with mass popular support through propaganda.

Other countries were able to successfully develop with less authoritarianism than China (Japan did it twice: Meiji Restoration and post-WW2), and were able to move to more democratic systems.

See the book How Asia Works by Joe Studwell for various case studies on what works and what doesn't:

* https://profilebooks.com/work/how-asia-works/

* https://bookshop.org/p/books/how-asia-works-success-and-fail...

* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16144575-how-asia-works