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

[Seth Johnson]

That's far closer.

On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 9:38 AM, Tarakiyee <tarakiyee at apc.org> wrote:
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> 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
>>
>>
>>
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