CHAPTER VII 



The Practical and Theoretical Aspects of the 

 Plebiscite 



In countries with democratic governments the popular 

 will is ordinarily deemed equivalent to the will of a ma- 

 jority. Hence the plebiscite or referendum, when resorted 

 to in matters of internal affairs, is employed as the means 

 of establishing which side of the argument is represented by 

 the majority and as such entitled to prevail. 



When applied to the transfer of territory the plebiscite 

 is supposed to serve a different purpose, narnely, to secure 

 recognition for a minority, that is, a minority in the whole 

 state, but a majority in a particular territorial portion of it. 



To illustrate: A state consists of two elements, a majority 

 and a minority. The latter is dissatisfied with the form of 

 government, the social, or religious, or any other, policy of 

 the state, as enforced by the majority. If the minority can 

 sufficiently increase its adherents it can change matters to 

 suit itself. Majority and minority need, of course, not 

 always be expressed in numbers alone ; economic and other 

 factors may furnish additional, and sometimes decisive, 

 force to one or the other side. If the minority can not gain 

 the required strength to alter conditions there is nothing 

 left to do but to submit or to secede if this is possible. We 

 have a concrete case of this kind in the separation of the 

 Swedish-Norwegian union. Norway had tried in vain to 

 induce Sweden to grant her separate representation in the 

 consular service and in the cabinet and finally abrogated the 

 union, forming an independent kingdom. Sweden accepted 

 the new state of affairs after a plebiscite had established the 

 fact that the separation corresponded to the nearly unani- 

 mous will of the Norwegian people. Equally clear-cut are 



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