Democracy is based on majority decision. It is the most important instrument for finding peaceful solutions to conflicts. Nevertheless, the principle of majority rule cannot claim universal acceptance. As the following texts show it is bound to certain conditions (text 2) and has its fair share of problems (text 1).

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"The majority will is only accepted as the common will for as long as the outvoted minority don't stand to lose too much - and where it's not always the same people that are outvoted.

(...) It would be quite wrong to think that the majority is free to make decisions in all areas and to do as it pleases. Consensus demands that there is a common understanding on which areas of politics the principle of majority rule should apply and which areas it should not.

(...) One of the most important principles for today's majority party is the principle that it may not take measures to secure its position in power, for example by suspending the principle of majority rule itself or by taking measures which will make it unnecessarily difficult for today's minority party to become tomorrow's majority.

There is also a fundamental principle which states that a new majority may correct and revise decisions made by the old majority.

(...) Many of today's joint political decisions, however, have to be taken in highly advanced areas of technological development such as nuclear power, gene manipulation, (...) and weapons technology. Because of the unequalled historic reach of these areas, those outvoted and in the minority are very well aware that most of these decisions are irreversible. Everyone knows that once a nuclear power station has been built and commissioned a new majority can do very little to change it.

(...) The principle of majority rule actually operates according to "fiction", that is, a fictive and abstract equality of privilege and participation: one man, one vote. Votes are counted rather than weighed. In an ideal world votes would be approximately equal in weight and contain the same amount of expert knowledge, the same commitment and the same responsibility. That this is a pious wish stands to reason - more particularly under conditions of intense interdependence and growing complexity.

The more the state takes on responsibility for everything, the more we come across a constellation of an apathetic, poorly-informed and, because not directly affected personally, a completely disinterested majority facing a committed, expert and extremely affected minority.

[taken from: Bernd Guggenberger/Claus Offe: An den Grenzen der Mehrheitsdemokratie, Opladen 1984]

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Democratic rule is based on a commission rather than submission. The people elect the government into office, the government is accountable to the people and its authority is demonstrated by the degree to which its results can be measured and by the degree to which it produces results within the scope of universal standards. Compromise and the premises on which compromise is based characterize a democratic system - compromise, which in itself encourages peace, because it helps to smooth conflicting and irreconcilable positions. The commissioning of a government at the ballot box by majority decision in actual fact means that the minority is only prepared to fall into line provided that the winning majority is not entitled to take away the opportunity for the minority to form the government in the future. To this end, the forming of political opinion has to be based on a principle of legitimate multiplicity and non-discrimination of the competition; the forming of political opinion must also ensure that controversy and opposing opinion are provided with the chance to compete and to participate. This is expressed in the continued existence of public criticism, the freedom of speech and the continued existence of important areas of basic law. The legitimacy for the principle of majority rule, therefore, does not come from itself, but rather from the principle that all citizens are politically equal.

[Taken from: Heinrich Oberreuter: Wahrheit statt Mehrheit? An den Grenzen der parlamentarischen Demokratie, München 1986]

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Subjects:  Human Rights  I  Democracy  I  Parties  I  Examples  I  Europe  I  Globalisation  I  United Nations  I  Sustainability

Methods:    Teaching Politics    II    Peace Education    II    Methods