The Middle Class and Democratic Consolidation in Zambia

Resnick, Danielle

doi:10.1002/jid.3101

Cited by 28 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…If one is concerned with the consumption patterns of the middle class, an absolute income or expenditure measure may be most appropriate, as chosen by Tschirley et al (2015). If one is most interested in the political activism and democratic values of the middle class, as chosen by Cheeseman (2015), Mattes (2015) and Resnick (2015), combining income or asset metrics with those incorporating educational attainment and employment status appears more fitting.…”

Section: Overview Of Special Issue Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Economy of Africa's Emergent Middle Class: Retrospect and Prospects

Resnick

2015

J of Intl Development

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This special issue introduction provides a historical perspective in order to contextualize the political economy of Africa's emergent middle class. In doing so, three overarching research questions are discussed to better understand the middle class' transformative potential. First, who constitute Africa's middle class and how has this concept changed over time? Second, what dynamics explain the growth of this group? Third, what are the implications of the middle class for good governance and pro-poor policies? The contributions of each of the articles in the special issue to answering these specific questions for Africa's contemporary middle class are then briefly discussed.

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Section: Overview Of Special Issue Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Economy of Africa's Emergent Middle Class: Retrospect and Prospects

Resnick

2015

J of Intl Development

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“…Second, the role of the middle class is paramount in contemporary African development because of the benefits it has been associated with, notably: (i) historical perspectives that the middle class was essential in the development of Europe and North America (Landes, 1998;Adelman & Morris, 1997) and (ii) contemporary positions that the middle is essential in mitigating poverty (Easterly, 2001), improving social progress (Sridharan, 2004), good institutions (Birdsall, 2007a), innovation and entrepreneurship (Banerjee & Duflo, 2009), inclusive development (Birdsall, 2010), institutional reforms (Loyza et al, 2012) and promotion of democracy (Kodila-Tedika et al, 2016). More specific contemporary middle class African development literature has focused on four main themes, namely, the: measurement of the middle class (Resnick, 2015a(Resnick, , 2015bCheeseman, 2015;Mattes, 2015;Shimeles & Ncube, 2015;Tschirley et al, 2015;Thurlow et al, 2015); relationship between the middle class and economic growth (Tschirley et al, 2015;Handley, 2015); nexus between governance and the middle class (Mattes, 2015;Cheeseman, 2015;Resnick, 2015b) and the role of the middle class in debates between the relevance of the Washington Consensus (WC) versus the Beijing Model (BM) in African development Asongu, 2016b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Sub-Saharan Africa’s Extreme Poverty Tragedy

Asongu

Roux

2018

International Journal of Public Administration

113

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Motivated by a recent World Bank report on achieving of Millennium Development Goals which shows that poverty has been declining in all regions of the world with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this study puts some empirical structure to theoretical and qualitative studies on the reconciliation of the Beijing Model with the Washington Consensus. It tests the hypothesis that compared to middle income countries, low income countries would achieve more inclusive development by focusing on economic governance as opposed to political governance. The empirical evidence is based on interactive and non-interactive fixed effects regressions and 49 countries in SSA for the period 2000-2012. The findings confirm the investigated hypothesis. As the main policy implication, in order to address inclusive development challenges in the post-2015 development agenda in SSA, it would benefit low income countries in the sub-region to prioritise economic governance. Other theoretical and practical contributions are also discussed.

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“…In the case of Zambia, for instance, Danielle Resnick (2015) investigated the role of the middle class in democratic consolidation, with a particular focus on the relationship between class, political participation, trust, and values. Her study reveals that despite holding strong values in some regards, Zambia's middle class is less likely to vote or demonstrate.…”

Section: The Link Between Socio-economic Development Class Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, not everyone equates the springing up of shopping malls, European-style coffee shops, movie theatres, and new housing complexes in a number of African cities (Resnick 2015) with the rise of a growing, politically conscious middle class that supports democracy and refocuses attention in public politics toward "higher-order" needs such as the promotion of human rights and condemnation of corruption. To what extent do rising incomes and falling poverty rates in a number of African countries provide a necessary or even sufficient condition for democratic consolidation and good governance in these societies?…”

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confidence: 99%

The Anxious and the Climbers: Ambivalent Attitudes Towards Democracy Among South Africa's Middle Class

Schotte

2017

SSRN Journal

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Beyond the hopes placed in Africa's emergent middle class as an engine of economic growth, some analysts see this group as a bastion of political stability and enduring democratisation across the continent. This paper's approach differs from that of most studies, which treat the middle class as a homogeneous group, through two key contributions. Terms of use: Documents inFirst, using cluster analysis, I propose a novel way of conceptualising social class that broadly draws on the Weberian idea of shared life chances. I apply this method to South Africa and identify five social classes characterised by their members' living standards, overall life satisfaction, and self-perceived upward mobility. Second, the empirical analysis reveals significant discrepancies in attitudes towards democracy between the downwardly and upwardly mobile strata of the middle class, which I term the "anxious" and the "climbers," respectively. On the one hand, the "climbers" show the highest generic support for democracy as a form of government, whereas the "anxious" middle class displays feelings of resignation. On the other hand, I find indicative evidence of a status-quo bias among the "climbers." Rather than assuming a more demanding or critical stance in politics, they allow their political priorities to be at least partly shaped by an interest in securing and expanding attained living standards; being upwardly mobile is even associated with a higher tolerance for government attempts to constrain freedom of information, opinion, or expression.Keywords: South Africa, middle class, democratic consolidation, political attitudes Simone Schotte, M.A.is a doctoral research fellow at the GIGA and a member of the Globalisation and Development (GlaD) research training group at the University of Göttingen. In her dissertation she investigates the economic and political role played by the new middle classes in emerging and developing countries with a focus on South Africa.

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The Middle Class and Democratic Consolidation in Zambia

Abstract: Journal articleIFPRI3; CRP2; ISI; F Strengthening institutions and governanceDSGD; PIMPRCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM

Cited by 28 publications

References 67 publications

The Political Economy of Africa's Emergent Middle Class: Retrospect and Prospects

The Political Economy of Africa's Emergent Middle Class: Retrospect and Prospects

Understanding Sub-Saharan Africa’s Extreme Poverty Tragedy

The Anxious and the Climbers: Ambivalent Attitudes Towards Democracy Among South Africa's Middle Class

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