This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (November 2009) This article is part of the Politics series Forms of government List of government types Androcracy Anarchy Aristocracy Bureaucracy Communist state Confederation Corporatocracy & Corpocracy Corporatism Consociationalism Demarchy Democracy Consensus Consociationalism Deliberative democracy Democratic socialism Totalitarian democracy Dictatorship of the proletariat Direct democracy Egalitarianism Futarchy Industrial Open source governance Participatory democracy People's Pure Representative democracy Parliamentary system Consensus government Westminster system Polyarchy Presidential system Semi-presidential system Despotism Dictatorship Autocracy & Autarchy Enlightened absolutism Military & Military junta Right-wing Stratocracy Authoritarianism Totalitarianism Empire Ethnic democracy Ethnocracy Fascism Corporative state Federation Feudalism Garrison state Gerontocracy Hierocracy Isocracy Interregnum Interrex Provisional government Kakistocracy Kratocracy Kleptocracy Kritocracy & Kritarchy Kyriarchy Logocracy Matriarchy, Gynaecocracy,

    Gynocracy, & Gynarchy Phallocracy, criticized      in radical feminism Mediocracy Meritocracy Minarchism & Night Watchman Monarchy Absolute monarchy Constitutional monarchy Despotism Duchy Grand Duchy Diarchy Enlightened absolutism Elective monarchy Hereditary monarchy Non-Sovereign Monarchy Popular monarchy Principality New Monarchs Self-proclaimed monarchy Regent Absolute Constitutional & Limited Diarchy & Co-Kingship Elective Nanny state Nation-state Monocracy Nomocracy Noocracy Ochlocracy & Mobocracy Oligarchy Panarchism Pantisocracy Parliamentary Patriarchy Plutocracy & Plutarchy Pornocracy Saeculum obscurum Police state Polyarchy Triarchy Tetrarchy Pentarchy Heptarchy Presidential Puppet state Republic Crowned Capitalist Constitutional Single Party Federal Parliamentary Federal Slave state Slavocracy Socialist state Sociocracy Squirearchy Stratocracy Sultanism Supranational union Synarchy Technocracy Thalassocracy Theocracy & Thearchy Islamic state Theodemocracy Timocracy Tribal Chiefdom Tyranny Unitary state Welfare state Politics portal v · d · e Ethnocracy is a form of government where representatives of a particular ethnic group hold a number of government posts disproportionately large to the percentage of the total population that the particular ethnic group(s) represents and use them to advance the position of their particular ethnic group(s) to the detriment of others.citation needed

The minority ethnic groups are systematically discriminated against by the state and may face repressions or violations of human rights at the hands of state organs. Ethnocracy can also be a political regime which is instituted on the basis of qualified rights to citizenship, and with ethnic affiliation (defined in terms of race, descent, religion, or language) as the distinguishing principle.citation needed Generally, the raison d'être of an ethnographic government is to secure the most important instruments of state power in the hands of a specific ethnic collectivity. All other considerations concerning the distribution of power are ultimately subordinated to this basic intention. Ethnocracies are generally considered to be non-democratic in nature.° Ethnocracies are characterised by their control system – the legal, institutional, and physical instruments of power deemed necessary to secure ethnic dominance. The degree of system discrimination will tend to vary greatly from case to case and from situation to situation. If the dominant group (whose interests the system is meant to serve and whose identity it is meant to represent) constitutes a small minority (20% or less) of the population within the state territory, extreme degrees of institutionalised suppression will probably be necessary to sustain the status quo.

The other side of the coin might well be a system of full-fledged democracy (inclusive and competitive in Robert Dahl's terminology) for the privileged population, making up what Pierre van den Berghe (1981) calls "Herrenvolk democracy" (with reference to apartheid South Africa). This is a system of ethnocracy which offers democratic participation to the dominant group only. Contents 1 Estonia 2 Latvia 3 Malaysia 4 South Africa 5 Uganda 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Estonia There is a spectrum of opinion among authors as to the classification of Estonia, spanning from Liberal or Civic Democracy12 through Ethnic democracy3 to Ethnocracy. Will Kymlicka regards Estonia as a democracy, stressing the peculiar status of Russian-speakers, stemming from being at once partly transients, partly immigrants and partly natives.4 British researcher Neil Melvin concludes that Estonia is moving towards a genuinely pluralist democratic society through its liberalization of citizenship and actively drawing of leaders of the Russian settler communities into the political process.5 Israeli researchers Oren Yiftachel and As’ad Ghanem consider Estonia as an ethnocracy.67 Israeli sociologist Sammy Smooha, of the University of Haifa, disagrees with Yiftachel, contending that the ethnocratic model developed by Yiftachel does not fit the case of Estonia; it is not a settler society as its core ethnic group is indigenous, nor did it expand territorially or have a diaspora intervening in its internal affairs as in the case of Israel for which Yiftachel originally developed his model.8

James Hughes, in the United Nations Development Programme's Development and Transition, criticizes Estonia, described by unstated sources as a case of ‘ethnic democracy’ where the state has been captured by the titular ethnic group and then used to promote ‘nationalising’ policies and discrimination against Russophone minorities.3 (Development and Transition has also published papers disputing Hughes' contentions.) Latvia Although ethnic Latvians comprise only 58% of the population of Latvia, 92% of all officials are ethnic Latvians.9 Some classify Latvia as an ethnic democracy (see Latvia and Estonia section of the ethnic democracy article for the main discussion). The rights and status of ethnic minorities is a deeply contested issue in Latvia.10 Malaysia The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (February 2010) Main article: Ketuanan Melayu Although not officially an ethnocratic government, most of the governmental positions were held by ethnic Malays, while only small percentages were held by non-Malays. South Africa Ethnocracy indicates a specific principle of power-distribution in a society. In his book Power-Sharing in South Africa,11 Arend Lijphart classifies contemporary constitutional proposals for a solution to the conflict in South Africa into four categories: majoritarian (one man, one vote) non-democratic (varieties of white domination) partitionist (creating new political entities) consociational (power-sharing by proportional representation and elite accommodation) (1985:5)

Not surprisingly, Lijphart argues strongly in favour of the consociational model and his categories illustrates that, on the constitutional level, state power can be distributed along two dimensions: Legal-institutional and territorial. Along the legal-institutional dimension we can distinguish between singularism (power centralised according to membership in a specific group), pluralism (power-distribution among defined groups according to relative numerical strength), and universalism (power-distribution without any group-specific qualifications). The three main alternatives on the territorial dimension are the unitary state, "intermediate restructuring" (within one formal sovereignty), and partition (creating separate political entities). Ethnocracy indicates a specific principle of power-distribution in a society. Uganda Uganda under dictator Idi Amin Dada has also been described as an ethnocracy favouring certain indigenous groups over others, as well as for the ethnic cleansing of Indians in Uganda by Amin.12 See also Ethnic nationalism Dominant minority Ethnic elite Ethnic nepotism Ketuanan Melayu Superstratum Nationalism South Africa under apartheid Human rights in Estonia References ^ Pickles, John; Smith, Adrian (1998). Theorising transition: the political economy of post-Communist transformations. Taylor & Francis. p. 284.  ^ Jubulis, M. (2001). "Nationalism and Democratic Transition". The Politics of Citizenship and Language in Post-Soviet Latvia. Lanham, New York and Oxford: University Press of America. pp. 201–208.  ^ a b Discrimination against the Russophone Minority in Estonia and Latvia — synopsis of article published in the Journal of Common Market Studies (November 2005) ^ Kymlicka, Will (2000). "Estonia’s Integration Policies in a Comparative Perspective". Estonia’s Integration Landscape: From Apathy to Harmony. pp. 29–57.  ^ Melvin, N. J. (2000). "Post imperial Ethnocracy and the Russophone Minorities of Estonia and Latvia". In Stein, J. P.. The Policies of National Minority Participation Post-Communist Europe. State-Building, Democracy and Ethnic Mobilisation. EastWest Institute (EWI). p. 160.  ^ Yiftachel, Oren; As’ad Ghanem (August 2004). "Understanding ‘ethnocratic’ regimes: the politics of seizing contested territories". Political Geography 23 (6). doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2004.04.003.  ^ Yiftachel, Oren (23 January 2004). "Ethnocratic States and Spaces". United States Institute of Peace. http://www.usip.org/events/ethnocratic-states-and-spaces. Retrieved 2009-10-18.  ^ Smooha , S. The model of ethnic democracy, European Centre for Minority Issues, ECMI Working Paper # 13, 2001, p23. ^ http://www.politika.lv/temas/sabiedribas_integracija/3889/ ^ "Citizenship row divides Latvia". BBC News. 25 March 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4371345.stm.  ^ Lijphart, Arend (1985). Power-sharing in South Africa. Berkeley : Institute of International Studies, University of California. ISBN 0877255245.  ^ Soldiers and Kinsmen in Uganda: The Making of a Military Ethnocracy by Ali A. Mazrui. Author(s) of Review: Rodger Yeager The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 10, No. 2 (1977), pp. 289-293. doi:10.2307/217352 External links Politics of Ethnocracies: Strategies and Dilemmas of Ethnic Domination Nils A. Butenschøn v · d · eEthnicity related concepts clan · ethnic group · ethno-linguistic group · ethno-religious group · indigenous peoples · meta-ethnicity · minority group · nation · nationality · panethnicity · population · race · tribe ethnology Anthropology · Ethnobotany · Ethnogeology · Ethnography · Ethnolinguistics · Ethnomathematics · Ethnopoetics · Ethnotaxonomy · Ethnomusicology ethnic groups by region Africa (Arab League) · Americas (indigenous · Canada · USA · Central America · South America) · Asia (Central Asia · East Asia · Northern Asia · South Asia · Southeast Asia · West Asia) · Australia (indigenous) · Europe · Oceania (indigenous · European) identity and ethnogenesis cross-race effect · cultural assimilation · cultural identity · demonym · endonym · folk religion · imagined communities · lineage-bonded society · mores · nation-building · nation state · national language · national myth · origin myth · pantribal sodalities · tribal name · tribalism multiethnic society consociationalism · diaspora politics · dominant minority · ethnic interest group · ethnocracy · ethnopluralism · indigenous rights · minority rights · multinational state ideology and ethnic conflict cultural genocide · ethnic cleansing · ethnic nationalism · ethnic stereotype · ethnocentrism · ethnocide · genocide · indigenism · separatist movements · xenophobia