Conclusion

This chapter concludes with implications of the evidence presented for the literatures on development and democratization, resource states, and protest mobilization. It demonstrates that the logic of middle-class state dependency holds not only in states where the economy is based on extractive industries. It also places the argument in a broader comparative perspective. The chapter pays attention to the autocratic middle-class supported by state economic engagement, which helps make sense of delayed democratization and democratic failures in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It points out how development increases the size of the middle-class, leads to democratization, and stabilizes authoritarianism.