FINDEM

Project Overview

FINDEM investigates three intersecting political trends in emerging market democracies: the rise of the middle class, financial development, and financialisation. More specifically, it examines their implications for the changing political-economic dynamics of and discourses surrounding financial governance, social provisioning, the expectations and aspirations of middle classes, and, more broadly, state-society relations. Our point of departure is that financialisation is not simply imposed from above but is shaped, reinforced and challenged by reciprocal political-economic relationships between states, industry, and emerging middle classes. Empirically, the project focuses on Malaysia, Indonesia, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria; we look in particular at retail investment, the financing of healthcare, housing, and tertiary education, as well as old-age provision/pensions.