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A dominant minority is a group that has overwhelming political, economic or cultural dominance in a country or region despite representing a small fraction of the overall population (a demographic minority). The term is most commonly used to refer to a racial, ethnic, national, religious or other minority group that holds disproportionate power.
White minority rule
White minority rule describes a situation where whites, comprising the minority of inhabitants, lead countries where non-white populations are the majority of inhabitants. White minority rule was associated with legal segregation (apartheid) in South Africa but not in Rhodesia or the Portuguese colonial territories. In these countries the franchise was extended to non whites on a qualified basis.
The term was principally (though not entirely) used in southern Africa, especially in the Republic of South Africa (before and during the policy of Apartheid) and in Rhodesia (before and during the rule of the Rhodesian Front). Many in the local non-white populations tended to favour Majority Rule, a term which the white minority tended to describe as Black Majority Rule.
White minority rule ended in these countries through a combination of attacks by non-white groups; peaceful protests by non-whites; widespread international moral, political and financial pressure, including from majority-white countries; and changing attitudes within the white minorities themselves.
It can also be said that the white minority in South America is a dominant minority. However, the key differences between the situation in South America and the situation in South Africa is that there were no strict legal barriers enforcing segregation in South American societies. Furthermore, there was greater intermarriage between the white minority and the other communities in the continent.
Some scholars argue that white minority rule exists within the international system and term this phenomenon Global Apartheid.
More examples of dominant minorities
Other examples of dominant minorities that have been said to have existed in the past are Germans in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russians in Soviet Central Asia, the Tutsis in Rwanda and Burundi, and the Sunnis in Iraq.
There are more cases of situations where a minority group has had disproportionate representation in economically-powerful positions and has achieved high incomes than the majority community. However, in these situations, these groups may not have had the political, social and cultural power that other dominant minorities have had.
The most commonly cited examples of minorities that may have had economic power and influence in a society but lacked political dominance and often suffered as a result are: the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, South Asians in East Africa and Chinese in Indonesia and Malaysia, see Market-dominant minority.
See also
References
- Gibson, Richard. African Liberation Movements: Contemporary Struggles against White Minority Rule (Institute of Race Relations: Oxford University Press, London, 1972). ISBN 0192184024
- Russell, Margo and Martin. Afrikaners of the Kalahari: White Minority in a Black State ( Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979). ISBN 0521218977
- Johnson, Howard and Watson, Karl (eds.). The white minority in the Caribbean (Wiener Publishing, Princeton, NJ, 1998). ISBN 9768123109, 1558761616
- Chua, Amy. World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability (Doubleday, New York, 2003). ISBN 0385503024
- Yale Law professor Chua's work is widely considered to be amongst the best and most controversial contemporary books on the subject. It emphasizes minority market dominance in a world economy marked by increasing globalization. A book review is available on Salon.com.
"Dominant minority"