Abstract
China’s rapid economic development may have dramatic political effects. Modernization theory optimistically anticipates that sustained economic growth will cause increasing public demand for political liberalization and democratization. The degree of Chinese citizens’ political satisfaction with the current state of civil liberties and political rights affects China’s future political development. Empirical findings in this article show that most Chinese citizens show increased satisfaction with their civil liberties and political rights after an improvement in their well-being. Life satisfaction in the economic sphere has a positive spill-over effect on satisfaction with civic and political rights. Satisfaction with civil liberties and political rights is positively connected to satisfaction with the level of democracy in China. The findings do not support the predicted increased demand for liberalization and democratization arising from economic growth. Life satisfaction in economic, social, and individual spheres has a positive spillover effect to the political sphere, generating inflated satisfaction with limited civil and political rights as well as a relatively low level of liberal democracy.
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