The Moral Weight of a Democratic Majority

Rosebury, Brian John orcid iconORCID: 0000-0002-6154-2685 (2021) The Moral Weight of a Democratic Majority. The Political Quarterly . ISSN 0032-3179

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.13046

Abstract

It is a still-influential characteristic of liberal thought since Mill that it advances moral arguments for limiting the authority of a democratic majority. This article suggests several reasons for thinking that a numerical majority nevertheless has some, though not necessarily decisive, moral weight. At the core of these reasons is the principle that every individual citizen has equal moral standing, even when he or she belongs to a numerical majority.


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