Tyranny of the majority

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The phrase tyranny of the majority, used in discussing systems of democracy and majority rule, is a criticism of the scenario in which decisions made by a majority under that system would place that majority's interests so far above a minority's interest as to be comparable in cruelty to "tyrannical" despots.^[1]

Limits on the decisions that can be made by such majorities, such as constitutional limits on the powers of parliament and use of a bill of rights in a parliamentary democracy, are commonly meant to reduce the problem.^[2]

The phrase has variously been sourced to John Stuart Mill in On Liberty (1859) and Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America (1835, 1840); the Federalist Papers frequently refer to the concept, though usually under the name of "the violence of majority faction," particularly in Federalist 10.

The concept itself was popular with Friedrich Nietzsche and the phrase (in translation) is used at least once in the first sequel to Human, All Too Human (1879).

Rousseau's doctrine of the General Will culminates in a kind of tyranny of the majority. By proposing that individuals alienate their rights to the General Will, they are thereby 'forced to be free'.

In 1994, legal scholar Lani Guinier used the phrase as the title for a collection of law review articles.

[edit] See also

• Argumentum ad populum
• Dictatorship of the proletariat
• Elective dictatorship
• Individual anarchism
• Majoritarianism
• Minority rights
• Ochlocracy (mob rule)
• Social anarchism
• Consociationalism

[edit] References

• Lani Guinier, The Tyranny of the Majority (Free Press: 1994)
• Friedrich Nietzsche, at maxim 89, Human, All Too Human: First Sequel: Mixed Opinions and Maxims, 1879. Excerpts compiled from translations by Walter Kaufmann, R. J. Hollingdale, Paul V. Cohn., (Gersimon): http://www.geocities.com/thenietzschechannel/mom.htm