Asian Middle Classes - Drivers of Political Change?

Asia watchers have been kept exceptionally busy by recent political developments in the region. An unprecedented landslide victory in India’s general elections, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, close elections in Indonesia, a coup in Thailand – the list goes on. As unrelated as these events appear, analysts may find a missing link among a social group that is currently exploding in numbers: Asia’s middle classes. Often discussed simply in terms of its economic potential, Asia’s middle-income population is also flexing its political muscle.

In this issue of the Asia Policy Brief, Serhat Ünaldi, Cora Jungbluth, Bernhard Bartsch (Bertelsmann Stiftung) and Clemens Spiess (Robert Bosch Stiftung) examine the role of Asian middle classes in recent political developments in China, Indonesia, Thailand and India. According to recent estimations by the Brookings Institution, the Asia-Pacific region will account for two thirds of the world’s middle-class population by 2030. Although this will inevitably increase the influence of the Asian middle classes, growing numbers and power do not translate into democratization in any straightforward manner.