The Autocratic Middle Class : : How State Dependency Reduces the Demand for Democracy / / Bryn Rosenfeld.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2020 English
• VerfasserIn: Rosenfeld, Bryn,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2020]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Studies in Political Behavior ; 11
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (296 p.) :; 22 b/w illus. 28 tables.

How middle class economic dependence on the state impedes democratization and contributes to authoritarian resilienceConventional 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 democratization theory, Bryn Rosenfeld shows how the middle classes can actually be a source of support for autocracy and authoritarian resilience, and reveals why development and economic growth do not necessarily lead to greater democracy.In pursuit of development, authoritarian states often employ large swaths of the middle class in state administration, the government budget sector, and state enterprises. Drawing on attitudinal surveys, unique data on protest behavior, and extensive fieldwork in the post-Soviet region, Rosenfeld documents how the failure of the middle class to gain economic autonomy from the state stymies support for political change, and how state economic engagement reduces middle-class demands for democracy and weakens prodemocratic coalitions.The Autocratic Middle Class makes a vital contribution to the study of democratization, showing how dependence on the state weakens the incentives of key societal actors to prefer and pursue democracy.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. The AutocraticMiddle Class -- 2. State Dependency andMiddle-Class Demand for Democracy -- 3. The Post-CommunistMiddle Classes, the State, and Democratization -- 4. Rethinking theMiddle-Class Protest Paradigm -- 5. Choosing toWork for the State -- 6. Revolution, Democratic Retrenchment, and theMiddle Class -- 7. Aligning theMiddle Class with Autocracy: Rhetoric and Practice -- 8. Conclusion -- Appendix I: Regression Results -- Bibliography -- Index