tyranny of the majority

Examples of tyranny of the majority in the following topics:

• Democracy

  • Democracy is a form of government in which sovereignty is held by the majority of citizens within a country or a state.
  • The United States also provides historical examples of the tyranny of the majority.
  • Such laws embodied majority opinion, at least at the time the law was made, but were oppressive to a minority of citizens who opposed the law.
  • Although such measures may limit representation, they make lawmaking more efficient and help guard against dangers such as the tyranny of the majority.
  • Although majority rule is often described as a characteristic feature of democracy, without responsible government it is possible for the rights of a minority to be abused by the tyranny of the majority, in which a majority institutes policies abusive to a minority (for example, a racial majority may deny a racial minority access to education, housing, jobs, or other resources).

• Types of Governments

  • It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medieval times.
  • Currently, 44 nations in the world have monarchs as heads of state, 16 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise the monarch of the United Kingdom as their head of state.
  • Democracy is a form of government in which the right to govern or sovereignty is held by the majority of citizens within a country or a state.
  • The "majority rule" is often described as a characteristic feature of democracy, but without responsible government it is possible for the rights of a minority to be abused by the "tyranny of the majority".
  • Consequently, the institutions of the state and of the Communist party become intimately entwined, such as in the development of parallel institutions.

• Democracy

  • Democracy is an egalitarian form of government in which all the citizens of a nation together determine public policy, the laws, and the actions of their state.
  • The members of the assembly then make decisions with a majority vote.
  • The concept of representative democracy arose largely from ideas and institutions that developed during the European Middle Ages and the Age of Enlightenment and in the American and French Revolutions.
  • Majority rule is often listed as a characteristic of democracy.
  • However, it is also possible for a minority to be oppressed by a tyranny of the majority in the absence of governmental or constitutional protections of individual or group rights.

• Popular Consent, Majority Rule, and Popular Sovereignty

  • Popular consent, majority rule, and popular sovereignty are related concepts that form the basis of democratic government.
  • Popular consent (or the consent of the governed), majority rule, and popular sovereignty are related concepts that form the basis of democratic government.
  • Majority rule is a decision rule that selects the option which has more than half the votes.
  • Some scholars have recommended against the use of majority rule, at least under certain circumstances, due to an ostensible trade-off between the benefits of majority rule and other values important to a democratic society.
  • Most famously, it has been argued that majority rule might lead to a "tyranny of the majority," and the use of a supermajority and constitutional limits on government power have been recommended to mitigate these effects.

• The Limits of Democracy

  • Historians argue that much constitutional thought, from James Madison to Abraham Lincoln and beyond, has focused on the perceived problem of majority tyranny.
  • Madison in particular worried that a small localized majority might threaten citizens' rights, and Thomas Jefferson warned that "an elective despotism is not the government we fought for."
  • Pervasive within them is the idea that pure democracy is in fact quite dangerous because it allows a majority to infringe upon the rights of a minority.
  • Montesquieu emphasized the need for balanced forces pushing against each other to prevent tyranny.
  • In his book The Spirit of the Laws, he argued for the separation of state powers into the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government.

• Developer Guidelines

  • This topic is covered in detail in the section called "Writing It All Down" in and the chapter Social and Political Infrastructure, but the basic elements of developer guidelines are:
  • some indication of how development is usually done and how decisions are made—is the project a benevolent dictatorship, a democracy, or something else
  • A tyranny pretending to be a democracy will turn people off; a tyranny that says it's a tyranny will do fine as long as the tyrant is competent and trusted.
  • (See the section called "Forkability" in the chapter Social and Political Infrastructure for why dictatorship in open source projects doesn't have the same implications as dictatorship in other areas of life.)
  • The separate issue of providing a programmer's introduction to the software is discussed in the section called "Developer documentation" later in this chapter.

• Politics in Public

  • Most Americans saw public participation in political life as essential to the prevention of corruption and tyranny.
  • The widespread availability of property in the thirteen colonies allowed most White males the chance to own some amount of property.
  • Therefore, while fewer than 1% of British men could vote, a majority of White American men were eligible to vote and run for office.
  • In this respect, the North American colonies differed from their European counterparts where the majority of the population was barred from civic participation.
  • Describe the central commitments of dominant civic ideology in the colonies

• Paine's Common Sense

  • Having created this model of what the balance should be, Paine goes on to consider the Constitution of the United Kingdom.
  • Paine identified two tyrannies in the English constitution: monarchical and aristocratic tyranny.
  • Paine questioned why the supporters of the mixed state, since they concede that the power of the monarch is dangerous, wish to include a monarch in their scheme of government in the first place.
  • The second reason involves the way the vast majority of people felt about the idea of independence from British rule.
  • Evaluate how the writings of Thomas Paine shaped American thought at the start of the Revolution

• Archaic Greece

  • The Archaic Period saw the increasing urbanization of Greek communities, and the development of the concept of the polis.
  • Various explanations have been provided for the rise of tyranny in the 7th century.
  • Some argue that tyrannies were set up by individuals who controlled privates armies, and that early tyrants did not need the support of the people at all.
  • Others suggest that tyrannies were established as a consequence of in-fighting between rival oligarchs, rather than as a result of fighting between oligarchs and the people.
  • The Homeric Question concerns the doubts and consequent debate over the identity of Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey; it also questions the historicity of the two books.

• Theories of Democracy

  • Theories of democracy advocate different degrees of participation by the people with the government.
  • Democracy, or rule by the people, is an egalitarian form of government in which all the citizens of a nation determine public policy, the laws, and the actions of their state together.
  • The members of the assembly then make decisions with a majority vote.
  • Theoretically, Aristotle contrasted rule by the many (democracy/polity) with rule by the few (oligarchy/aristocracy) and with rule by a single person (tyranny or autocracy/monarchy).
  • Under minimalism, democracy is a system of government in which citizens give teams of political leaders the right to rule in periodic elections.