Minoritarianism
In
Concept in depth
Minoritarianism is most often applied disparagingly to processes in which a minority is able to block legislative changes in the presence of supermajority threshold requirements.[citation needed] For example, if a two-thirds majority vote in favor is required to enact a new law, an opposing minority of greater than one-third is said to have "minoritarian" powers.
Even in the case where minority control is nominally limited to blocking the majority with veto power (whether as a result of a supermajority requirement or consensus decision-making), this may result in the situation where the minority retains effective control over the group's agenda and the nature of the proposals submitted to the group, as the majority would be disinclined to propose ideas that they know the minority would veto.
Critics of this use of minoritarianism argue that the ability to block legislation is substantially different from the ability to enact new legislation against the will of the majority, making the analogy to unpopular "dominant minority rule" examples inappropriate.
Minoritarianism is sometimes used to describe rule by a
Minoritarianism may also be used to describe some cases where appeasement of
In small deliberative groups
Supermajority decision threshold requirements are often found in small deliberative groups where these requirements are sometimes adopted in an attempt to increase protection of varied interests within the group. The requirements may be formally stated or may be unstated (for example, when an organization is described as having a "consensus culture").
A common criticism of consensus decision-making is that it can lead to a situation wherein a minority can block the will of the majority. Consensus advocates argue that this is a good feature—that no action is preferable to one without the consensus support of the group.
Attempts to resolve the dilemma through formal supermajority standards are generally discouraged by parliamentary authorities:
Some people have mistakenly assumed that the higher the vote required to take an action, the greater the protection of the members. Instead the opposite is true. Whenever a vote of more than a majority is required to take an action, control is taken from the majority and given to the minority. ... The higher the vote required, the smaller the minority to which control passes.
—from "The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure" by Alice Sturgis[6]
Dominant minority
A dominant minority, also called elite dominance, is a minority group that has overwhelming
The term is most commonly used to refer to an
See also
Notes
- ^ Ramachandran, Narayan (October 6, 2013). "Majority, minority, authority". Mint.
- ^ "In India, is it Secularism or minorityism?". The New Indian Express.
- ^ Kuzmin, Sergius L.; Dmitriev, Sergey (2015). "Conquest dynasties of China or foreign empires? The problem of relations between China, Yuan and Qing". International Journal of Central Asian Studies. 19: 59–92.
- ^ http://johnpilger.com/articles/south-africa-20-years-of-apartheid-by-another-name John Pilger Apartheid by another name
- ^ "Out Of My Mind: Minoritarianism". The Indian Express. 2018-04-01. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
- ISBN 978-0-8093-3216-8.
References
- Derbyshire, John (2002-01-29). "Minoritarianism". National Review. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
- Barzilai, Gad. Communities and Law: Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities (Ann Arbor: ISBN 978-0-472-03079-8
- Gibson, Richard. African Liberation Movements: Contemporary Struggles against White Minority Rule (Institute of Race Relations: ISBN 0-19-218402-4
- Russell, Margo and Martin. Afrikaners of the Kalahari: White Minority in a Black State ( ISBN 0-521-21897-7
- Johnson, Howard and Watson, Karl (eds.). The white minority in the Caribbean (Wiener Publishing, Princeton, NJ, 1998). ISBN 1-55876-161-6
- Chua, Amy. ISBN 0-385-50302-4
- Haviland, William. Cultural Anthropology. (Vermont: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993). p. 250-252. ISBN 0-15-508550-6.