Majority Will Concept

A Majority Will Concept is a collective political concept that represents the aggregated preferences of more than half of a political community.

• AKA: Majority Will, Majority Rule, Democratic Majority, Popular Majority, Numerical Majority.
• Context:
  • It can typically serve as decision mechanism in democratic systems through voting procedures.
  • It can typically claim democratic legitimacy based on numerical superiority rather than substantive correctness.
  • It can typically be formed through preference aggregation without deliberative transformation.
  • It can often conflict with minority rights and individual liberties.
  • It can often represent coalitions of particular wills rather than general will.
  • It can often shift with political moods and electoral cycles.
  • It can range from being a Simple Majority Will Concept to being a Supermajority Will Concept, depending on its threshold requirement.
  • It can range from being a Stable Majority Will Concept to being a Volatile Majority Will Concept, depending on its temporal consistency.
  • It can range from being a Deliberative Majority Will Concept to being a Aggregative Majority Will Concept, depending on its formation process.
  • It can range from being a Constrained Majority Will Concept to being an Unconstrained Majority Will Concept, depending on its constitutional limits.
  • ...
• Examples:
  • Electoral Majorities, such as:
    • Parliamentary Majority controlling legislative agenda.
    • Presidential Majority claiming electoral mandate.
    • Referendum Majority deciding constitutional questions.
  • Historical Majority Wills, such as:
    • Jim Crow Majority enforcing racial segregation.
    • Brexit Majority choosing national sovereignty.
    • Prohibition Majority banning alcohol consumption.
  • Theoretical Majority Problems, such as:
    • Tyranny of the Majority oppressing minority groups.
    • Condorcet Paradox showing voting cycles.
    • Arrow's Impossibility Theorem proving aggregation limits.
  • ...
• Counter-Examples:
  • General Will Concept, which expresses common good regardless of numerical count.
  • Consensus Decision, which requires universal agreement not just majority support.
  • Minority Rights, which constrain majority power through constitutional protection.
• See: Collective Political Concept, Democratic Theory, Voting Theory, General Will Concept, Particular Will Concept, Majority Rule Principle, Minority Protection, Constitutional Democracy, Social Choice Theory, Democratic Paradox.

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