Essay Database

The principle of the 'tyranny of the majority' has been explored since the earliest studies on modern democracy. Indeed, it was Alexis de Tocqueville in his Democracy in America who coined the term. It is the capacity of the majority of the people to have the right to everything is it were (de Tocqueville, 1992). He argues that, though it may be the will of most, this does not justify imposing tyrannical excesses on a minority …

…inequalities have led to voting patterns along racial lines while the two-thirds majority safeguard on the constitution is threatened by the overwhelming majority of the ANC. It is this, combined with the deterioration of the global economic scene and political accountability in South Africa with the increased consolidation of power behind the ANC that one fears the future potential of a true tyranny of the majority, such as we've witnessed in Zimbabwe over recent years.