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Full Idea
If there were no earlier agreement, how could there be any obligation on the minority to accept the decision of the majority? The law of majority-voting rests on a covenant, implying at least one previous occasion of unanimity.
Gist of Idea
Minorities only accept majority-voting because of a prior unanimous agreement
Source
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract (tr Cress) [1762], I.5)
Book Ref
Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Social Contract', ed/tr. Cranston,Maurice [Penguin 1972], p.59
A Reaction
In Britain this points to the Reform Acts of 1832 onwards as crucial. However, whenever democracy is newly introduced into a country (Iraq being a current spectacular case) there is usually a minority opposed to it, who are forcibly overruled.
22549 | In many cases, the claim that the majority is superior would apply equally to wild beasts [Aristotle] |
7238 | Minorities only accept majority-voting because of a prior unanimous agreement [Rousseau] |
23530 | The great danger of democracy is that the oppression of the minority becomes unobjectionable [Hart,HLA] |
20287 | If 49% of the population can be wrong, so can 51% [Singer] |
23253 | Majority decisions are only acceptable if the minority interests are not vital [Grayling] |
20509 | Occasional defeat is acceptable, but a minority that is continually defeated is a problem [Wolff,J] |