The emerging middle classes in India: mobilizing for inclusive development?

The recent numerical expansion of the middle classes in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) has (re)opened the debate on their positioning in the broader political and social development processes within each of these countries, and the emergence of global Southern perspectives on alternative development paradigms (Wiemann, 2015, this volume; Koonings, 2012). That middle-class groups are concerned about national development trajectories has been clearly illustrated in recent street protests in 2013-2014 around the quality of public services and the choices national government made on spending public funds on the World Cup in Brazil, and on public sector corruption by the Anna Hazare movement in New Delhi, India.