dictatorship is a double edged sword, it has worked for china, else where it has not, another example is rwanda, the dictatorship seem to be woking miracles for the country.
but we also have examples of singapore, japan, korea, which are not dictatorship.
the soviet also applied socialism and failed miserably.
democracy is highly subjective as well, a well informed, educated and aware public can have fruitful democracy, in a country like pakistan, it has been a mere tool for feudals obtaining perpetual control over politics.
china's economic success is after adopting capitalism, and western models, not its flopped socialistic economic system.
regards