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World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability

Book by Amy Chua · 1 quotes · Ethnic Conflict, Market Dominant Minority, Affirmative Action

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World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability Quotes

“Page 259: The bottom line is this. Democracy can be inimical to the interests of market-dominant minorities. There were good reasons why the Indians in Kenya and whites in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and America’s Southern states resisted democratization for generations. Market-dominant minorities do not really want democracy, at least not in the sense of having their fate determined by genuine majority rule. Some readers will surely protest. Many market-dominant minorities—the Chinese in Malaysia, for example, or Jews in Russia, and Americans everywhere—often seem to be among the most vocal advocates of democracy. But “democracy” is a notoriously contested term, meaning different things to different people. When entrepreneurial but politically vulnerable minorities like the Chinese in Southeast Asia, Indians in East Africa, or Jews in Russia call for democracy, they principally have in mind constitutionally guaranteed human rights and property protections for minorities. In other words, in calling for democracy, these “outsider” groups are precisely seeking protection against “tyranny of the majority.”

Ethnic ConflictMarket Dominant MinorityEthnic Politics
Book:World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability
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