In Chapter 3 I take a macro approach to explaining the third wave. I identify two paradoxes: First, the uneven distribution of rising incomes in Africa over the past twenty years has allowed poverty to last amid impressive economic growth; and second, higher economic status has not ensured political empowerment for the new middle class. Using data on income, employment, and credit flows, I recount how new opportunities in the private sector freed a small middle class both from worries about daily survival and from the need to seek wealth from patronage. More and more Africans possess the resources, time, and political autonomy to start “post-materialist” social movements and defy incumbents who are reluctant to share power. Yet, the majority of Africans are struggling to get by and are not in a similar position to launch protests, despite dissatisfaction with their material conditions.