Majoritarian democracy is a form of
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...
based upon
majority rule
Majority rule is a principle that means the decision-making power belongs to the group that has the most members. In politics, majority rule requires the deciding vote to have majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary dec ...
of a polity's citizens.
Majoritarian democracy contrasts with
consensus democracy
Consensus democracy, consensus politics or consensualism is the application of consensus decision-making to the process of legislation in a democracy. It is characterized by a decision-making structure that involves and takes into account as b ...
, rule by as many people as possible.
Characteristics
In the majoritarian vision of democracy, voters mandate successfully-elected politicians to enact the policies they proposed during their electoral campaign. Elections are the focal point of political engagement, with limited ability for the people to influence policymaking between elections.
Criticisms
Though common, majoritarian democracy is not universally accepted – majoritarian democracy is criticized as having the inherent danger of becoming a "
tyranny of the majority
The tyranny of the majority (or tyranny of the masses) is an inherent weakness to majority rule in which the majority of an electorate pursues exclusively its own objectives at the expense of those of the minority factions. This results in oppre ...
" whereby the majority in society could oppress or exclude minority groups,
which can lead to violence and civil war.
Some argue that since parliament, statutes and preparatory works are very important in majoritarian democracies, and considering the absence of a tradition to exercise judicial review at the national level, majoritarian democracies are undemocratic.
Fascism rejects majoritarian democracy because the latter assumes equality of citizens and fascists claim that fascism is a form of
authoritarian democracy
Authoritarian democracy is a form of democracy directed by a ruling elite of an authoritarian state that seeks to represent the different interests of society. Authoritarian democracy has also been called "organic democracy" by some proponents.M ...
that represents the views of a dynamic organized minority of a nation rather than the disorganized majority.
Examples
Australia and Canada are examples of majoritarian democracies. Representatives are chosen not by
proportional electoral systems, but by a system based on
plurality voting
Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality (voting), plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects j ...
. Contrary to popular belief, the USA is not a majoritarian democracy as they can have an elected individual based on points from the majority of county and further state votes. This means an individual can be in power in the USA while having a minority vote overall.
See also
*
Majoritarianism
Majoritarianism is a traditional political philosophy or agenda that asserts that a majority (sometimes categorized by religion, language, social class, or some other identifying factor) of the population is entitled to a certain degree of pri ...
*
Majority rule
Majority rule is a principle that means the decision-making power belongs to the group that has the most members. In politics, majority rule requires the deciding vote to have majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary dec ...
*
Consensus democracy
Consensus democracy, consensus politics or consensualism is the application of consensus decision-making to the process of legislation in a democracy. It is characterized by a decision-making structure that involves and takes into account as b ...
References
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{{Refend
Comparative politics
Types of democracy
de:Konkurrenzdemokratie