Majority Rule, Minority Rights

Majority Rule, Minority Rights: Suggested Study Questions and Activities

Suggested Study Questions and Activities

Note for Teachers

The following are suggested questions and activities that can be given to your students after they read the materials of each section. The questions are meant to be asked as a review exercise, but also as critical thinking exercises. The activities, which may require additional research, can be presented as classroom exercises or as individual assignments for essays or class presentations (see also Resources for suggested research materials). Some activities call for students to have debates that would engage the entire class but all of the questions and activities can be used in this way. These are only suggested questions and activities. Teachers should rewrite or develop their own as they feel necessary.

Essential Principles and History

Study Questions

Question

If the majority always rules, what real protections for minority rights exist within a democracy? Why does the majority have a stake in respect for minority rights?

Question

How has majority tyranny been exercised in different countries? How did majority tyranny exist in the United States? Over what periods?

Question

How do individual rights protect minority rights? How does the African American experience relate to the use of individual rights to gain greater respect for minority rights?

Question

What UN conventions exist for protecting minority groups from discrimination and repression? How did protection of religious, ethnic and national groups from destruction become an obligation of international law? Have there been successful international actions taken to stop acts of genocide?

Question

What does Roberts Rules of Order propose as a standard for conduct of meetings? Why is this presented as an “ideal”? Can minority rights always be observed?

Question

What countries are listed in Democracy Web’s Country Studies whose recent practices re-enforce the important principle that majority rule requires minority rights? What other countries in Freedom House’s Survey can be identified that reenforce the same principle?

Activities and Study Topics

Activity

When a ruling or majority group decides to oppress, drive out, or exterminate a minority group, often the minority group must appeal for help from outside the country. Identify recent international actions aimed at defending minorities against oppression or genocide in the History section. Have any succeeded in protecting the minority? Have any international tribunals provided justice for oppressed minority groups?

Activity

The African American experience in resisting majority oppression using non-violence and civil disobedience is presented here as a model for how to achieve minority rights from an intransigent majority. What other examples can you identify from American or international experiences where minority rights were achieved through non-violent strategies and actions? Compare these to the African American experience. What was similar? What was dissimilar to these civil movements?
 

Activity

Assign John Lewis’s last op-ed in The New York Times (see Resources) or part or all of the graphic non-fiction series March, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nat Powell. Have students review the methods and non-violent actions that Lewis participated in. Assign an essay on the following topics: “Why did Lewis adopt non-violence in the face of state violence? What was the cost? What was the result?” Or: “At the end of his life, what did Lewis advise young people to do in the face of challenges to American democracy? Why?”

Activity

Have students compare and contrast the different countries in this section: Netherlands, Turkey and Sudan. How has majority rule been exercised? How have minority rights been respected or violated? In what types of political systems has minority rights been more respected?

Netherlands

Study Questions

Question

Historically, why does Netherlands have a reputation for tolerance and minority rights? Is it deserved? What other historical actions contradict that reputation?

Question

What issues of minority rights regarding ethnic and religious groups have arisen in the Netherlands in the last two decades? 

Question

How has the traditional policy of multiculturalism conflicted with recent immigration, especially in Muslim communities? How have political parties reacted to these issues?

Question

Are minority rights improving or worsening in Netherlands?

Activities and Study Topics

Activity

The Netherlands today is addressing several political and ethnic minority issues. Review the Social and Cultural Planning Office Report in 2004 (search title for PDF). Answer the questions: What issues are being confronted in the report? What barriers does it list that are preventing integration of immigrants? How has the Netherlands responded to minority issues in recent years (see Current Issues)? Do minority communities and minority political opinions have for expressing opinions?

Activity

Freedom House ranks Netherlands among the highest of free countries (97 out of 100). Assign students to read its reports for 2023 and 2023 and the recommended New York Times articles on the recent collapse of the government on migration issues. Organize a class discussion: Would you rank Netherlands as high or lower according to the country’s policies towards minority rights?

Activity

The New York Times published an article on a museum exhibit opened in Netherlands on the war-time occupation by Nazi Germany (see Resources). Assign the article and The Diary of Anne Frank or other materials from The Anne Frank Museum. Review the issues the article raises for presenting the history of Nazi occupation. Have a classroom discussion or assign an essay asking students how the article reflects the actual history of war-time resistance and Nazi rule. How does it reflect how history is taught and examined? 

Sudan

Study Questions

Question

What factors contributed to Sudan's disunity following independence? What was Britain’s role in contributing to the lack of unity? 

Question

How were minority rights violated in Sudan under Generals Muhammad Nimeiri and Omar al-Bashir?

Question

What led to the creation of South Sudan? What was the role of the United States?

Question

Why is the repression of Darfur considered genocide by the US and other governments?

Question

What led to the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir after nearly 30 years of rule? Why did the Temporary Military Commission come to an agreement for joint military-civilian rule? What role did women play in the revolution? Did this agreement last?

Question

After another military coup in 2021, the military came to a second peace deal with some of the opposition. What led the military to come to another agreement? Why did some civic and political groups not sign? 

Question

Today, the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces are engaged in a form of civil war? What led to the conflict?

Activities and Study Topics

Activity

In the Country Studies of Turkey and Sudan, compare the treatment of the minority Kurds in Turkey and the treatment of minority groups in Sudan. What are the similarities? What are the differences? How has the majority ruled over the minority? Examine Freedom House’s country reports for the two countries. Do you agree with Freedom House’s designations of Turkey and Sudan today as “not free”? Explain why or why not.

Activity

Despite widespread repression and use of force, Sudanese society organized opposition to Omar al-Bashir’s rule and also to new military-led governments after April 2019 and October 2021. Some groups in southern and western regions organized rebellion and sought change by force. Some groups sought change by non-violent protest? Which was more successful? What prevented fulfillment of a transition to a civilian government and free elections?
 

Activity

Assign the Foreign Policy article in Resources (“The Failure of Sudan’s Democracy is a Disaster for Women”). Have students examine the role of women in civic resistance and the Sudan revolution in this and other resources (assign a short essay or engage in class discussion). What is the history of women’s activism in Sudan? What motivated women’s’ involvement in civic resistance. With the civil war, what is likely the result of the gains made (such as ending Islamic Order)? What are current strategies of the civic resistance?

Turkey

Study Questions

Question

When Turkey declared independence, what aspects of the 1924 Main Law (the constitution) would have made it Free under Freedom House’s measurements? What aspects would have made it only Partly Free?

Question

How did Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal) address the legacy of the Ottoman Empire’s absolute monarchy?

Question

How many coups did the military carry out in the years following Ataturk’s death? Did it return the country to democratic governance? What was the longest period of military rule?

Question

What changed after 2002? How did the Justice and Development Party and its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan consolidate power over time?

Question

How are abuses of majority rule and minority rights connected? How is Article 301 used to repress opposition?

Activities and Study Topics

Activity

Examine why Turkey is now designated “Not Free” by Freedom House’s Survey of Freedom in the World? What characteristics made it “Partly Free” in the past? What makes it less free today? What political movements in Turkey seek to restore it to a Partly Free or Free category?

Activity

Examine how Recep Tayyip Erdogan consolidated power. What tools of government did he use? What parts of society did he repress to control opposition to his rule. Compare to other countries that have become more authoritarian in recent years. What are similarities and differences?

Activity

Assign Lydia Polgreen’s opinion essay in the New York Times (see Resources). Why does she argue that “The State Failed These People” in the major earthquake of February 2023. What characteristics of the abuse of majority rule caused Turkey’s government to fail the victims of the earthquake?

Activity

Assign the OSCE Election Observer Report (see Resources). How does the OSCE describe the 2023 presidential election? Why does it consider the election to be unfair? What state powers were abused in the election to give Erdogan an advantage?

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