Herrenvolk democracy is a system of government in which only a specific ethnic group participates in government, while other groups are disenfranchised. Ethnocracy, in which one group dominates the state, is a related concept. The German term ''Herrenvolk'', meaning "

master race The master race (german: Herrenrasse) is a pseudoscientific concept in Nazi ideology in which the putative "Aryan race" is deemed the pinnacle of human racial hierarchy. Members were referred to as "''Herrenmenschen''" ("master humans"). T ...

", was used in 19th century discourse that justified colonialism with the supposed racial superiority of Europeans.

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elitist Elitism is the belief or notion that individuals who form an elite—a select group of people perceived as having an intrinsic quality, high intellect, wealth, power, notability, special skills, or experience—are more likely to be constr ...

form of government is typically employed by the majority group as a way to maintain control and power within the system, and typically coincides with the false pretense of egalitarianism. There is a prevailing view that as people of the majority gain

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

and

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

and egalitarian principles are advanced, the minority is repressed and prevented from being involved in the government. This principle can be seen in the development of both the United States—especially the Southern states—and South Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. In these historical scenarios, even as legislation moved toward universal male suffrage for white people, it also further entrenched restrictions on political participation by black people and upheld their disenfranchisement. The term was first used in 1967 by Pierre van Den Berghe in his book ''Race and Racism''. In his 1991 book ''The Wages of Whiteness'', historian David R. Roediger reinterprets this form of government in the context of 19th-century United States, arguing that the term "''herrenvolk'' republicanism" more accurately describes racial politics at this time. The basis of herrenvolk republicanism went beyond the marginalization of black people in favor of a

republican government Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represen ...

serving the "master race"; it contended that "blackness" was synonymous with dependency and servility, and was therefore antithetical to republican independence and white freedom. Consequently, the dependent white worker at this time used his whiteness as a way to differentiate himself from and elevate himself over the dependent black worker or slave. According to this ideology, black people were not merely "non-citizens"; they were "anti-citizens" who inherently opposed the ideals of a republican government.

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{{Racism topics Ethnicity in politics Types of democracy Ethnic supremacy Rule by a subset of population

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