[governance] tyranny of majority (was Re: Debunking eight myths about multi-stakeholderism)

[Tarakiyee]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

I would agree that majority rule is no more essential to democracy
than any other elements of democracy. Majority rule without democracy
is simply mob rule.

I think any democratic governance system that's coercive can succumb
to mob rule or even to a well organised and well resourced minority.
Limits on majority rule often fail in practice due to impunity and
collective inaction.

Specifically in the context of MS, it's important to recognise that
multi-stakeholder processes are not all equal, an MS process with a
democratic outlook would encourage deliberation, transparency and
inclusion, all essential elements to mitigate tyranny, either by a
minority or a majority.

Best,
Tarakiyee

On 29/04/15 12:36, Norbert Bollow wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Apr 2015 11:15:35 +0200 Jean-Christophe Nothias
> <jeanchristophe.nothias at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> This tyranny of majority is an intriguing item.
> 
> In governance systems which have majority voting but not the other 
> essential elements of the modern understanding of democracy, it
> will sometimes happen that tyrannical, i.e. human rights violating,
> decision proposals are supported by a majority of votes, and
> therefore considered adopted. A famous example was the
> state-sanctioned murder of Socrates in ancient Athens.
> 
> In democratic governance systems of course in such a situation
> there is the possibility to get the outcome of the vote overturned
> by a court decision on the basis that it is a human rights
> violation.
> 
> In democratic governance systems therefore tyranny of majority does
> not occur.
> 
> Greetings, Norbert
> 
> 
> 
> ____________________________________________________________ You
> received this message as a subscriber on the list: 
> governance at lists.igcaucus.org To be removed from the list, visit: 
> http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing
> 
> For all other list information and functions, see: 
> http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance To edit your profile and
> to find the IGC's charter, see: http://www.igcaucus.org/
> 
> Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
> 
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJVQN7nAAoJEDehRReL/nRD4hsH/3dVrJn0votEpm9klSWZUpjP
ti8m5s+6mA7KlA+foDLv7rpFQJhq1l7wMxfUyP7WvbfQNeIqa6EvPSgHG+Ar+VOl
C7dXe1jwP0Iw7P57zfLeQx+XeWhpiHdAF3tIvgTlbFB3f9K3CvnZ2hykSr8bsJzq
lx56ypMk2SfPT02lz5RGJUatn8oyskCz6I+f4YqtjlbX71cRlVxAloU/KzeKcWgi
MiPPrYuRmYw+PRYZDmVK4fieNYYOsBtM6YRsGPE0xGgKARV6msfSilKboEsPWaP6
JtUuyWCUmVDvcjD0uMIrtAo3LOIij+czaIUK3g+I0f39HijIOwizmA5d/fbWSTw=
=sPIi
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t