IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/apsrev/v111y2017i04p637-652_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reevaluating the Middle-Class Protest Paradigm: A Case-Control Study of Democratic Protest Coalitions in Russia

Author

Listed:
  • ROSENFELD, BRYN

Abstract

A large literature expects rising middle classes to promote democracy. However, few studies provide direct evidence on this group in nondemocratic settings. This article focuses on politically important differentiation within the middle classes, arguing that middle-class growth in state-dependent sectors weakens potential coalitions in support of democratization. I test this argument using surveys conducted at mass demonstrations in Russia and detailed population data. I also present a new approach to studying protest based on case-control methods from epidemiology. The results reveal that state-sector professionals were significantly less likely to mobilize against electoral fraud, even after controlling for ideology. If this group had participated at the same rate as middle-class professionals from the private sector, I estimate that another 90,000 protesters would have taken to the streets. I trace these patterns of participation to the interaction of individual resources and selective incentives. These findings have implications for authoritarian stability and democratic transitions.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosenfeld, Bryn, 2017. "Reevaluating the Middle-Class Protest Paradigm: A Case-Control Study of Democratic Protest Coalitions in Russia," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 111(4), pages 637-652, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:111:y:2017:i:04:p:637-652_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S000305541700034X/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ketchley, Neil & Eibl, Ferdinand & Gunning, Jeroen, 2023. "Anti-austerity riots in late developing states: evidence from the 1977 Egyptian Bread Intifada," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119831, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Erin Baggott Carter & Brett L. Carter, 2021. "Propaganda and Protest in Autocracies," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 65(5), pages 919-949, May.
    3. Erin Baggott Carter & Brett L. Carter, 2020. "Focal Moments and Protests in Autocracies: How Pro-democracy Anniversaries Shape Dissent in China," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(10), pages 1796-1827, November.
    4. Marques, Israel & Remington, Thomas & Bazavliuk, Vladimir, 2020. "Encouraging skill development: Evidence from public-private partnerships in education in Russia’s regions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Henry E. Hale, 2019. "How Should We Now Conceptualize Protest, Diffusion, and Regime Change?," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(10), pages 2402-2415, November.
    6. Michael Rochlitz & Olga Masyutina & Koen Schoors & Yulia Khalikova, 2023. "Authoritarian durability, prospects of change and individual behavior: evidence from a survey experiment in Russia," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 23/1061, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    7. Duvanova, Dinissa & Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy, Alex & Zadorozhna, Olha, 2023. "Can Black Tulips stop Russia again?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 1274-1288.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:111:y:2017:i:04:p:637-652_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/psr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.