The role of middle class in democratic diffusion

Natalie Chun, Rana Hasan, Muhammad Rahman and Mehmet Ulubasoglu

International Review of Economics & Finance, 2016, vol. 42, issue C, 536-548

Abstract: The modernization hypothesis and the democratic domino theory have been at the forefront in explaining the democratization around the globe. This paper empirically investigates the ‘middle class-driven modernization’ hypothesis and the ‘middle class-driven democratic domino’ effect in a panel of 145 countries over the period 1985 to 2013. Using several middle class measures and a dynamic panel estimator, we show that the ‘middle class-driven modernization’ hypothesis finds strong empirical support in the sample of developing countries excluding Eastern Europe and Central Asia, while the ‘middle class-driven democratic domino’ effect finds support in the sample of developing countries excluding East Asia and the Pacific.

Keywords: Middle class; Modernization hypothesis; Spatial domino theory; Democracy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O15 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:reveco:v:42:y:2016:i:c:p:536-548

DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2015.10.021

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