Middle Class Conflict

Democracy, benefactor of the middle class, has become highly unstable in developing countries given the current economic climate which exaggerates society’s class conflicts. “For decades, political theorists have considered the growth of a middle class to be the key to successful democratization. Yet, in the last ten years, middle classes across the developing world have begun to defy that claim,” writes Prospect Magazine. Entrenched authoritarian interests, the fragility of young democratic institutions and a newly mobilized and protective middle class is proving to be an explosive mixture from Thailand to Venezuela.