At first glance, "illiberal democracy" as a model seemed to have a strong starting point. However, China itself may see its ambition to become an alternative to the Western model of governance thwarted by India, which, with Narendra Modi at the helm, is moving towards becoming an illiberal democracy. Today in Russia, China and much of the "global south," we witness patterns of material and cultural consumption developed by Western nations since the 18th century. Capitalism was bound to lead to democracy in the old Westphalian nation-states, which lived under models of governance no less authoritarian or illiberal than what we have in China and Russia today. Two decades ago, the emerging middle classes in China and Russia tried to imitate the superficial aspects of the Western model.