Is the middle class bad for democracy?
The middle class makes democracies work, in conventional thinking. Middle class citizens use the power of their votes and their massed wealth to provide an effective counter to oligarchies of all sorts. But Joshua Kurlantzick argues that in Thailand and elsewhere in the developing world, a “democracy-hating middle class” now holds sway.
Kurlantzick thinks that the Thai middle-class, by driving Thaksin Shinawatra out of elected office, has broken with democratic process. Worse, he says the middle class in Mexico, Russia, Venezuala and other developing nations no longer believe they get fair representation, that the rural poor overwhelm their votes.
“Once the middle class realizes it cannot stop the elected tyrants, it also comes to another, shattering realization: If urban elites can no longer control elections, all of their privileges — social, economic, cultural — could be threatened. “
This shift in thinking by the middle class upends what we know about democracy, and calls its very existence in these nations into question, Kurlantzick says. He sees democracy in crisis, where the tyranny of the majority of voters overwhelms the rights of a society’s most successful members.
It sounds more like clever rhetoric to me. Protest, anger, fear about the rule of law, these things afflict young democracies. Why should we expect the Thais to behave differently than the English or the Americans on our own rocky roads to modern democratic society?