Why fringe figures are holding democracies hostage

Kevin McCarthy bent a knee to Republican radicals to secure the House Speaker's job. (Image: Getty)

Sun, 22 Jan 2023

By Ian Buruma Minorities occupy a special place in liberal democracies, their rights safeguarded by institutions from the tyranny of the majority. Several of the world’s leading democracies are now grappling with quite a different phenomenon, however – what might be called a tyranny of the minority.In the United States, not only did an incompetent demagogue become president, he emboldened fringe figures who now control the Republican Party and hold hostage one chamber of Congress. The governing Conservative Party in B...

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