6. Three Types of Majority Rule

UK political history since 2010 has provided us with three examples of how the principle of majority rule can operate in democracy. 2010 produced coalition government; 2015 a return to the norm of single party government; and 2017 a minority government. Each illustrates a particular type of majority rule. Theoretically majority rule captures the value of democratic fairness, but its seeming obviousness disappears once political competition involves more than two alternatives. The traditional Westminster system skirts around this problem by making the relevant majority the parliamentary one, without the need for parliamentary majorities to rest on electoral majorities. The principle of a double majority is that governments should rest both on parliamentary and on electoral majorities, a principle illustrated by the pattern of German coalition governments. However, even in such systems there may be no overall majority position. The principle of the issue-by-issue majority is exemplified in Nordic democracies, in which minority governments need to secure ad hoc agreement on particular elements of their programme. It is possible to combine these principles and this possibility is illustrated by a possible reform of the UK House of Lords.