What is the key difference between the economic success of the democratic nations (USA, UK, Hong Kong, Malaysia, etc.) and what we call the third world (say The Congo, Venezuela, etc.)? Corruption.
Regardless of political structures, successful nations have relatively less corruption in public life. Less corruption encourages greater citizen faith in institutions and support for the civil structures. This, in turn, allows the citizen to commit more to the individual and community success because she or he can be (reasonably) assured that efforts will be rewarded instead of shunted off to a well-connected rent seeker.
