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TRANSCULTURAL FRIENDSHIP: OUR POLITICAL FUTURE Chapter Four: Autocracy and Democracy Section 8: Majoritarian Democracy
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"Gypsy Dance" by the Lysaya Dance Ensemble.
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The greatest limitation of democracy is that it tends toward majoritarianism, especially in culturally diverse societies. Anyone who understands democratic processes expects to submit one's will to the majority will when there is a conflict. However, if one is always in the minority, the democracy is a virtual autocracy. Many corporations are run along majoritarian lines. Fifty-one percent of the stock of a closely held corporation controls all the decisions -- the holders of the other 49 percent of the stock love it or leave it. While this may or may not be a satisfactory arrangement when nothing but money is invested, it is not productive where human capital is involved.
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To the ethnic, or otherwise definable, minority that always looses electoral contests, democracy looks like an autocracy. As a result, commitment, friendliness, and creative participation of the part of that minority would be impaired. In the long run, the entire society would lose quantitatively and qualitatively. There is a quantitative loss in that the energies of the number of people represented by the minority are not optimally contributing to the well being of the society. Qualitatively, the country would lose the unique inputs and resources that belong to that minority.
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Transcultural Friendship: Our Political Future |
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Change as the Status Quo |
Autocracy and Democracy |
Criteria |
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Levels of Democracy |
Majoritarian Democracy |
Protecting Minority Interests |