Direct democratic majority rule as a permanent solution to the problem of persistent minorities

In an influential article Abizadeh (2021) claims that the majoritarian conception of democracy is flawed. Firstly, he argues that it is incoherent, stating that “majoritarianism ultimately stands against one of democracy’s core normative commitments, namely political equality”. Secondly, he asserts that it is based on a “mistaken view of power, which fails to account for the power of numbers and thereby fails to explain the inequality faced by members of persistent minorities”. He concludes that “counter-majoritarian institutions, such as federalism, are sometimes required to serve democratic equality”. This paper aims to show that such a general rejection of majoritarianism is misguided. Specifically, I will argue that under certain conditions, the problem of persistent minorities can be solved structurally and permanently by an inherently majoritarian institution of direct democracy — that is, by frequent referendums based on the principle of simple majority rule. I will present two arguments in support of this. First, drawing on social psychology literature, I focus on personal and collective identity to underline that any given community has many sub-identities. This argument may seem trivial, but it is crucial to recognise it explicitly as the first necessary step in solving the persistent minority problem. Secondly, drawing on literature concerning losers and winners in democratic votes, I will argue that members of identity-based minorities and majorities alike will necessarily never be in the political majority or minority all of the time. This is a fundamental advantage of political systems in which direct democracy is structurally anchored. In fact, the problem of persistent minorities is most salient in purely representative democracies, where people can only vote periodically elect their representatives. In other words, I suggest that the problem need not be solved by counter-majoritarian institutions; direct democracy could be introduced instead. Abizadeh, A. (2021) ‘Counter-Majoritarian Democracy: Persistent Minorities, Federalism, and the Power of Numbers’, American Political Science Review, 115(3), pp. 742–756.