Far more worrying is what could be called the 21st-century authoritarians — contemporary China, Russia and others who follow their model. These states have learnt much from their unsuccessful pasts. They have discovered that their old economic models did not work and that they can give their people certain rights, but not others. Their citizens now enjoy “private freedoms” – such as the right to travel, to make and spend money, own property and choose the education for their children. That, for sure, is a huge step forward in societies when even these rights were largely denied.