Unfortunately a very small percentage of residents vote in school-district elections, which is why a small but highly motivated minority can control the school boards and the resultant high budgets.

The announcement increased fears of renewed fighting in Burundi, where the Tutsi minority controls the army and has traditionally dominated the government.

And as in South Africa, the white minority still controls the bulk of the land and wealth.

The white minority controlled the vastly larger black majority.

A shrinking minority of Yankee patricians controls the oldest institutions, banks at the Hospital Trust Company and plays golf at the Agawam Hunt club.

As in the third world, where a tiny minority controls most wealth, the rich retreat behind armed barricades, there is no serious opposition and the populace is pitted against itself.

Right now, the Alawite minority controls the country; unseating them from their privileged position will be far from easy and will most likely lead to some form of civil war.

Caught off-guard Israel is a country where a tiny minority of families and individuals control a hugely disproportionate amount of wealth.

The majority of the population is of African descent, but a prominent multiracial minority controls many of the city's businesses.

In the Assembly, where 21 of the 150 members are black or Hispanic, the new plan would include 31 districts in which minorities could control the selection of a representative.