Democracy and minority language recognition: tyranny of the majority and the conditional effects of group size. Issue 3 (16th April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Amy H.
• Is Part Of: Democratization. Volume 24:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 544
• Page End: 565
• Publication Date: 2017-04-16
• Subjects: Democracy -- language -- majoritarian politics -- minority recognition -- regime type; Democracy -- Periodicals; Economic history -- 1990- -- Periodicals; Democratization -- Periodicals; 321.8
• DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2016.1245292
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1351-0347

Abstract

ABSTRACT: What explains minority language recognition? Why are some governments more responsive than others to minority linguistic demands? While there are reasons to believe democracies – as protectors of civil liberties – are generally more likely to recognize minority demands, I argue only those without a sizable majority extend such recognition to the highest levels . This is because the dominance of one large linguistic group electorally impedes a democratic government's ability to grant such benefits to the smaller ones. I test this argument by using a newly constructed measure of minority language recognition. This variable identifies whether a minority language is used in public education, and if so, it differentiates between instruction of and instruction in a minority language. I find that while democracies are indeed more likely to acknowledge minority languages, the effects are conditional: only those without a majority are able or willing to accommodate minorities to the fullest extent. Otherwise, when there is a tyranny of the majority, democracies behave no differently than their dictatorial counterparts. The results – robust to different measurements of majoritarian politics – hold important implications for our understanding of democracy and its ability to satisfy demands in divided societies.