Dividing the Rulers: How Majority Cycling Saves Democracy - Softcover

Li, Yuhui

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0472040138 ISBN 13: 9780472040131

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2025

Synopsis

The election of populist politicians in recent years seems to challenge the commitment to democracy, if not its ideal. This book argues that majority rule is not the problem; rather, the institutions that stabilize majorities are responsible for the suppression of minority interests. Despite the popular notion that social choice instability (or “cycling”) makes it impossible for majorities to make sound legislation, Yuhui Li argues that the best part of democracy is not the large number of people on the winning side; it is that the winners can be easily divided and realigned with the losers in the cycling process. He shows that minorities’ bargaining power depends on their ability to exploit division within the winning coalition and induce its members to defect, an institutionalized uncertainty that is missing in one-party authoritarian systems. Dividing the Rulers theorizes why such division within the majority is important and what kind of institutional features can help a democratic system maintain such division, which is crucial in preventing the “tyranny of the majority.” These institutional solutions point to a direction of institutional reform that academics, politicians, and voters should collectively pursue.

About this title

About the Author

Yuhui Li earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Davis.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472040138
• ISBN 13: 9780472040131
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 166