Little more than a decade ago, my answer to the question posed by this essay is title was the year 2015 . My assessment, published in the fall 1996 issue of the National Interest , began by observing that all countries [ leaving aside states that make nearly all their money from oil exports ] which had attained aGross Domestic product per capita [GDPpc] of at least US$ 8,000 per year [ as measured by the purchasing – power parity or PPP standard for the year 1995 ] stood no worse than partly free in the ratings of political right and civill liberties published annually by Freedom House [FH]