[prewett]

When you and your family and your neighbors, village, tribe are worried about where your next meal is coming from, you don’t have much energy for self-expression. See also Maslow’s hierarchy.

China and Russia have similar politics in that they both have long authoritarian histories, as well as Communist histories. I don’t know much about India, but I’d guess that the average Indian and the average Chinese person have similar concerns: how to get enough money to move their family up from poverty or near poverty and into the middle class.