A dominant minority is a group that has overwhelming political, economic or cultural dominance in a country or region despite representing a small fraction of the overall population (a demographic minority). The term may refer to a racial, national, class, religious or other minority group that holds disproportionate power.

White minority rule

White minority rule describes a situation where whites, comprising the minority of inhabitants, hold power over (i.e. disenfranchises) a non-white population (the majority).

The term was principally (though not entirely) used in Southern Africa, especially in the Republic of South Africa (before and during the policy of Apartheid) and in Rhodesia (before and during the rule of the Rhodesian Front). Without exception, these non-white populations favoured Majority Rule, a term which the whites qualified (or more accurately, devalued) as a Black Majority Rule. In both South Africa and Rhodesia, majority rule was brought through violent upheavals.

References

• Gibson, Richard. African Liberation Movements: Contemporary Struggles against White Minority Rule (Institute of Race Relations: Oxford University Press, London, 1972). ISBN 0192184024
• Russell, Margo and Martin. Afrikaners of the Kalahari: White Minority in a Black State ( Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979). ISBN 0521218977
• Johnson, Howard and Watson, Karl (eds.). The white minority in the Caribbean (Wiener Publishing, Princeton, NJ, 1998). ISBN 9768123109, 1558761616
• Chua, Amy. World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability (Doubleday, New York, 2003). ISBN 0385503024
  • Yale Law professor Chua's work is widely considered to be amongst the best and most controversial contemporary books on the subject. It emphasizes minority market dominance in a world economy marked by increasing globalization. A book review is available on Salon.com.