Won By One

Abstract

History, it seems, is often subject to the personal whim and caprice of just a few individuals. Indeed, in several countries, and sometimes on several occasions, crucial majority-vote decisions have been resolved on the basis of only one person’s vacillation. In some instances, the individual concerned was logrolling; occasionally, by means fair or foul, he – it was usually a he – was cajoled. Either way, the effect was that decisions were sometimes swung this way or that by the one who knew or cared least about the outcome. A few brief stories are worth re-telling, if only to show how frail is the polity of majoritarianism.