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Minoritarianism

Minoritarianism (also often called minority rule) is a political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a segment of a country's population (sometimes categorized by religion, language or some other identifying factor) to which a minority of its citizens belong is entitled to obstruct political progress sought by a majority or is otherwise entitled to a certain degree of primacy in that country's society.

In democracies, and in particular, direct democracy in the form of initiatives, minoritarianism often surfaces in cases where there are supermajority election decision threshold requirements.

On a smaller scale, minoritarianism is also in force when a minority segment of a group that decides issues using consensus decision-making thwarts particular decisions from being made.

Examples of minority rule include Southern Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) under Ian Smith and South Africa under apartheid rule.

Minoritarianism

See also