International Online Training Program On Intractable Conflict
	Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, USA

Majority Rule Processes

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Majority rule processes do not require consensus for group action. Instead, decisions are made by voting with a majority determining the position of the entire group. This approach has the advantage of being able to produce a prompt and clear decision. (In may take some time before consensus processes can reach a decisions--if they can at all.) Unfortunately, majority rule processes provide only limited incentives for the parties to compromise or to find a way for dealing with  issues that serve the interests of all participants. Instead, the incentive is to compromise only enough to build a majority coalition. Once a winning coalition has been achieved, the parties are largely free to ignore the interests of other participants. This effect can be limited somewhat by rules which require super-majorities (60%, 2/3 or 3/4 for important decisions). Even with super-majorities, however, the tendency of majority rule processes is to divide society into two competing coalitions (often referred to as the right and left, or liberals and conservatives). One key to controlling what is sometimes called the "tyranny of the majority" are norms and rules which prevent the majority from disregarding the basic rights of the minority. These rights, as they are applied in a political context in the United States for example, include but are not limited to the following:

• Individual Freedom -- people should be allowed to do what they want unless their actions hurt others,
• Equal Protection -- the laws should be applied equally to all members of society
• Voting Rights -- all members of the society have the right to vote,
• Freedom of Speech -- all members of the group have the right contribute whenever ideas they want the public debate,
• Individual property -- individual property cannot be taken for group used public use without just compensation,
• Due Process -- fair processes are used to resolve disputes concerning these rights.

Examples

Joseph P. Folger, Marshall Scott Poole, and Randall Stutman -- Conflict and Interaction

The authors observe that conflicts may be either destructive or productive. They describe the nature of conflict generally, and then examine those features which make conflicts productive or destructive. Majority rule votes, they observe, can lead to destructive outcomes as they enforce a win-lose approach to conflict.

 

Susan Shearouse -- A Vote For Consensus

This essay illustrates the shortcomings of majority rule (voting) processes and suggests situations in which consensus is a superior approach to decision making

 

A Conversation On Peacemaking With Jimmy Carter

Carter observes that elections provide an alternative to negotiation as a peacebuilding tool which was used successfully in Panama, Nicaragua, and elsewhere.

 

Timothy Sisk -- Power Sharing and International Mediation in Ethnic Conflicts

This is a brief summary of Sisk's book which discusses a variety of power sharing approaches which can be used to resolve ethnic conflicts.  Some involve majority rule decision making, while others do not. 

 

John Prendergast --  Nested Conflict  : The Case of Ethiopia

This is a case in which elections failed to contribute towards peace.

 

Elise Boulding -- United Nations Peacebuiding in Namibia

Although elections sometimes escalate ethnic tensions, with UN assistance, they contributed to peacebuilding in Namibia.

 

Elise Boulding -- United Nations Conflict Resolution Attempts in Central America with the OAS

UN election monitoring and certification also contributed to peacebuilding in Nicaragua.

 

Saadia Touval -- Case Study: Lessons of Preventative Diplomacy in Yugoslavia

Democracy was expected to be the key that held Yugoslavia together, Touval states, but ironically, the suggests that democratic and it economic reforms appear to have fueled the conflict.

 

Links to Outside Sources of Information about Majority Rule and Making the Transition to a Democratic System

 

Tore Nyhamar Transitions to Democracy

Links to Related Approaches

Consensus Rule Processes

Protection of Minority Rights

Administrative Decision-making Processes

Links to Related Problems

Dictatorial Process

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