Dominant minority

For other uses, see Minority (disambiguation).

A dominant minority, also called elite dominance, is a minority group that has overwhelming political, economic, or cultural dominance in a country, despite representing a small fraction of the overall population (a demographic minority). The term is most commonly used to refer to an ethnic group that is defined along racial, national, religious, cultural or tribal lines and that holds a disproportionate amount of power and wealth compared to the rest of the population.

In contrast, minority rule, of less permanency and with no basis in race or ethnicity, is often seen when a political party holds a majority in political structures and decisions, but receiving less than the majority of votes in an election.

Africa

A notable example is that of South Africa during the apartheid regime, where white South Africans, more specifically Afrikaners, wielded predominant control of the country, despite never composing more than 22 percent of the population. ^[1] African-American-descended nationals in Liberia, white Zimbabweans in Rhodesia, ^[2] and the Tutsi in Rwanda since the 1990s also have been cited as current or recent examples. ^[3]

See also

• Politics portal

• Colonialism
  • exploitation colonialism
  • plantation colonies
  • settler colonialism
• Elitism
• Herrenvolk democracy
• Middleman minority
• Minoritarianism
• Minority influence
• Model minority
• Neocolonialism
• Tyranny of the majority
• World on Fire, a book that introduces the concept of "market-dominant minority"
• Global majority

Footnotes

1. Mayne, Alan (1999). From Politics Past to Politics Future: An Integrated Analysis of Current and Emergent Paradigms. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. p. 52. ISBN   978-0-275-96151-0.
2. "The 'secretive sect' in charge of Syria". BBC News. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
3. "Rwanda genocide: 100 days of slaughter". BBC News. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2023.

References

• Barzilai, Gad. Communities and Law: Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003). ISBN   978-0-472-03079-8
• Chua, Amy. World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability (Doubleday, New York, 2003). ISBN   0-385-50302-4
• Gibson, Richard. African Liberation Movements: Contemporary Struggles against White Minority Rule (Institute of Race Relations: Oxford University Press, London, 1972). ISBN   0-19-218402-4
• Haviland, William. Cultural Anthropology. (Vermont: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993). p. 250-252. ISBN   0-15-508550-6.
• Johnson, Howard and Watson, Karl (eds.). The White Minority in the Caribbean (Wiener Publishing, Princeton, NJ, 1998). ISBN   976-8123-10-9, ISBN   1-55876-161-6
• Russell, Margo and Martin. Afrikaners of the Kalahari: White Minority in a Black State ( Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979). ISBN   0-521-21897-7