Ethnic Minority Governments, Democracy, and Human Rights

This study investigates empirically whether or not the presence of minority governments is more likely to induce the erosion of democracy. This is in light of how extant research in comparative democratization has focused on the deleterious effect of ethnic fractionalization on democratic survival. However, more recent work that re-examined the ethnic heterogeneity and democratic collapse nexus finds mostly null effects. This article shows that ethnic fractionalization per se does not hinder the process of democratization. The study finds that the assumption to power of minority heads of government and their length of tenure in office lead to ethnic minority dominance that has a pernicious effect on democratic development and the promotion of human rights. The implications suggest that the presence of minority governments may generate ethnic tensions that precipitate longstanding political instability, which makes it difficult for democratic politics and its practices to endure.