Popular sovereignty can itself become a collective tyranny indistinguishable from a single tyrant

Evidence

Thus, the—purportedly—democratic leveling was carried so far that the higher as well as the lower status groups were disfranchised, and only the ideal entity of “the people as a whole” remained. Opponents soon declared that this newly discovered concept of “the people” served only to transfer “the people’s” unlimited sovereignty to a single man. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 672 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Conquest by a nation either awakens conquered nationalism or degenerates into tyranny; The inalienable rights of the abstract individual were immediately fused with national sovereignty; Hypernationalist rhetoric served to justify a supranational monopoly of power (+4 more)

Related

• Democratic leveling rhetoric can cloak transfer of sovereignty to one man (similarity 0.83)
• Tyranny is dissolved by predictability or by independent overriding power (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Democratic leveling rhetoric can cloak transfer of sovereignty to one man #exemplifies (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 672
• Totalitarian rule replaces external coercion with domination from within each person #expands (0.82)
• Tyranny is dissolved by predictability or by independent overriding power #qualifies (0.75)