osr
You are picking some very extreme example here, both Nigeria and India are wrecked with secretarian and extremist violence. But that does not apply to every single democratic state. Germany, France and Norway are on the complete polar opposite.
Whilst the US does often use hard power to further it's interests, it's soft power reserves also goes along way to help it as well. It was immigrants like Einstein and George Soros that gave the US much needed boosts in both innovation and economy. And these immigrants only came to the US in the first place because they admire the fact that they weren't going to persecuted on things that they themselves cannot help it. That is the kind of thing soft power is, it is something that is not easily calculated.
The recent spat of US issues happened in large part because US leadership though that soft power and admiration is something that can be taken for granted and/or is irrelevant. If the White House did not act all so hypocritically right after the Cold War, a lot of it's downfalls could very well be prevented. Threatening your allies is not the best thing to do if you are expecting their help on say Iran.
And finally, Trump being elected is perhaps ironically one of the biggest examples of US soft power/admiration still standing. That Trump is consistently hampered and obstructed in his megalomaniac and populist endeavors highlights even after he was elected highlights the fact : That nothing in the USA can be easily subverted or subsumed, either by both the politicians or the people. It is a slow system, but it works if properly employed.
On the issue of China, it is at a crossroads as of now. It prosperity while not untrue, is base largely on the fact that for the best part of 20 years it has been a developing nation and can still be considered as such to some extend even today. It had only began to engage the world in any meaningful capacity beyond being the general workshop/assembly house of the world. It's system has yet to experience the demands and strain of what a increasingly wealthy and sophisticated society generates.
If the Chinese leadership thinks that everything can be solved just by waving a fistful of money at the other's face, then they should not be surprise that they would find themselves in the same predicament as the US is right now.
There's a lot of spin-doctoring in this post.
So now Nigeria and India are not "True Democracies", eh? Well, that's okay, because my point was that only wealthy democracies get held up as shining examples of "freedom", while poor democracies get forgotten or dismissed as "not true democracies".
Guess what? The economic prosperity of a nation is directly tied to its social stability. What you're effectively saying is that France and Germany are "True Democracies" because they're rich.
The US has its own political system. I have to laugh that you think it's such an accomplishment that Trump got elected, but can't do much. In China, someone like Trump would never be able to attain prominence in the first place. Instead of spending 4-8 years in virtual paralysis, China is able to select competent leaders and move the country forward.
You have a poor understanding of Chinese foreign policy if you think China just waves money at other people. On the contrary, that is the Western way of thinking, with its foreign aid tied to "human rights", and a myriad of NPOs that are more interested in showcasing the misery in Africa for fundraising than actually doing anything about it.
China, on the other hand, offers infrastructure projects instead of cash. As a gesture of good-will, China will offer to build, for free, buildings and roads. Those are things that directly benefit the local people, and which corrupt politicians find very difficult to siphon cash from.
