Sometimes if you put yourself into the minds of these countries with insanely huge population (China for example), there's really no other way to propel to word number 1 in such a short time other than communism or dictatorship. Like what the previous reply stated, how do you please more than 1 billion voters and stick to nation's goals every 4-5 years? Every time a country changes party in a democratic country, they have different agendas and policies to roll out. Unlike China, it takes 1 man/president/party to push a single goal all the way for many years. Democracy is not perfect, neither is communism.