Implementing majority rule
Aanund Hylland
Collège de France
May 14, 2009
Aanund Hylland: Imlementing majority rule
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Point of departure
Public decisions should – as a general rule – be
taken by majority vote, that is, the decision
should correspond to the views of the
majority of the people.
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"As a general rule"
In many cases, there are strong normative
reasons that decisions should not be taken by
majority vote, even if all the problems related
to implementing majority rule can be assumed
away.
These cases will be mentioned, but not
thoroughly discussed.
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Who are the people
Who should count when a certain decision
is made?
This question is largely ignored, and the
answer is taken for granted.
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Returning to the general case
In principle, one could implement majority rule
by making all public decisions by referendum.
For obvious, practical reasons, this is not
done.
Even in countries where referenda are relatively
frequent, like Switzerland, only a tiny fraction
of public decisions are made that way.
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“Technical” problems
“Majority rule" is not always well defined, due
to the possibility of cyclic majorities ("the
Condorcet paradox").
The result of holding a referendum on such an
issue could be unpredictable and arbitrary.
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Representative democracy
Hence representative democracy is,
and must be, the main form of
"government by the people".
Direct democracy is the exception, a
supplement to representative
democracy
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Normative ideal
The ideal is that the representative assembly,
when acting according to its rules of
procedure (presumably based on majority
rule), makes the decision which is "correct"
based on the preferences of the people. In
the normal case, this means that the majority
in the assembly should correspond to the
majority among the people.
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The ideal more generally
The representative assembly, when acting
according to its rules of procedure, should
make the decision which is "correct" based on
the preferences of the people and the
normative principles adhered to.
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Second best
It is impossible to design a representative
assembly so that this ideal is always satisfied.
One must look for "second-best solutions".
Thus "Implementing majority rule" shall be
interpreted as attempts to coming as close as
possible to the mentioned ideal.
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How should the representative
assembly be structured?
Should there be a unicameral or bicameral
(multicameral) assembly?
How should the electoral system be designed?
Should it be based on proportional
representation or majority (plurality)
elections?
Should special groups be protected by quotas or
the like?
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Plurality or majority elections
Promotes two-party system
Apparently suited to implement majority rule
Does not guarantee that the majority wins the
election
Vadly suited to accommodate many issues with
cross-cutting preferences
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Important special dimensions?
Geography
Almost universally used
Gender
Ethnicity
Avoiding violence (BiH)
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Ideal of equal power
At what stage to measure power?
Reasons for inequality
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