Minorities and majorities in the Middle East

Extract

Minority and majority are correlative terms: to say the one necessarily implies the other.

The notion of minority and majority has for a long time now been part of the Western political vocabulary. How did this happen ? It is a natural question to ask since neither the Latin words from which they are derived, i.e., minor and maior, nor their particular derivations in various European languages originally had a political bearing or implication. In English (and French) for instance minority and majority indicated simply the age of a person, having regard to issues of legal competence. A minor could not act in his own behalf. In due coursethe minor will be able so to act, and we then say that he has attained his majority.