China and the United States are about to choose new leaders, albeit through very different methods. But the Chinese state enjoys greater legitimacy than any Western state, says an article in BBC News Magazine. Excerpts:

You probably think that the legitimacy and authority of the state, or government, is overwhelmingly a function of democracy, Western-style. But democracy is only one factor. Nor does democracy in itself guarantee legitimacy. The Chinese state enjoys greater legitimacy than any Western state.

In China's case the source of the state's legitimacy lies entirely outside the history or experience of Western societies. China is not primarily a nation-state but a civilization-state. For the Chinese, what matters is civilization. For Westerners it is nation.

The most important political value in China is the integrity and unity of the civilization-state. There have been many examples in history. The legitimacy of the Chinese state lies, above all, in its relationship with Chinese civilization.

But does the Chinese state really enjoy legitimacy in the eyes of its people?

Take the findings of Tony Saich at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. In a series of surveys, he found that between 80 percent and 95 percent of Chinese people were either relatively or extremely satisfied with the central government.

Or take the highly respected Pew Global Attitudes surveys which found in 2010, for example, that 91 percent of Chinese respondents thought that the government's handling of the economy was good.

Take the economy. China's economic rise - an annual growth rate of 10 percent for more than 30 years - has been masterminded by the Chinese state. It is the most remarkable economic transformation the world has seen since the modern era began with Britain's Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.

Even though China is still a developing country, its state is the most competent in the world.

Take infrastructure - the importance of which is belatedly now being recognized in the West. Here, China has no peers. Its high-speed rail network is the world's largest and will soon be greater than the rest of the world's put together.

And the State's ubiquity - a large majority of China's most competitive companies, to this day, are State-owned.

In about six years hence, the Chinese economy will overtake the US economy in size. By 2030, it will be very much larger. The world is increasingly being shaped by China, and if it has looked West for the last two centuries, in future it will look East.

Welcome, then, to the new Chinese paradigm - one that combines a highly competitive, indeed often ferocious market, with a ubiquitous and competent state.