The reconfiguration of global power suggests two likely future trends. Firstly, there will be a decline in the relative weight and influence of Western democracy as the West decreases in importance. Secondly, democratic forms in the developing world may well prosper, but they are quite likely to be increasingly hybrid in form. They will become less Western in inspiration and more indigenous. China is not a product of Western democracy and shows very little sign of moving in that direction. How will the West adapt to a world, after two centuries, in which it is no longer dominant? Until now, the idea of China offering an alternative form of governance to the Western liberal order has seemed sufficiently implausible to be ignored. Sooner or later, the West will be obliged to come to terms with the reality of China as it is rather than as the West would like it to be and thinks it should be.
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