The Autocratic Middle Class: How State Dependency Reduces the Demand for Democracy

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How middle class economic dependence on the state impedes democratization and contributes to authoritarian resilience Conventional wisdom holds that the rising middle classes are a force for democracy. Yet in post-Soviet countries like Russia, where the middle class has grown rapidly, authoritarianism is deepening. Challenging a basic tenet of d

Reviews

"Winner of the Ed A Hewett Book Prize, Association for Slavic, Eastern European, & Eurasian Studies"
"Rosenfelds book is essential reading for anyone interested in questions of development and democratisation. In its successful effort to illuminate the role of the middle class in promoting democracy, it should serve as an important reference point for future scholarship in the field. As such, it deserves wide attention."---Europe-Asia Studies, Zuzanna Brunarska

Author Bio

Bryn Rosenfeld is assistant professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University.