Why Does Middle Class Favor Democracy?

Abstract:     
Empirical evidence shows that a revolution led by middle class citizens is more likely to turn the country into a democracy while both poorer and richer classes usually lead the country towards autocracy. This paper sets up a model to explain this phenomenon with three results: 1) Wealth is a good indicator of the revolutionaries’ choice only if the previous regime’s policy equal to the middle position leader’s ideal. 2) Revolutionaries choose democracy only if the previous regime has sufficient democratic basis. 3) The condition that the middle class favors democracy more than any other classes coincides with the condition that democracy occurs.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 11

Keywords: autocracy, democracy, revolutionaries, decision, wealth, middle class, policy, ideal point

JEL Classification: D71, D83, P16

working papers series