POWER SHARING
POLITICAL SCIENCE(X)
CHAPTER 01
What is Power Sharing
Power sharing among three
organs of the state, Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary is
vital to the proper functioning of the democracy. Power sharing allows all
communities and social groups a say in the governance. The citizens have a
right to be consulted on how they are to be governed. In democracy everyone has
a voice in shaping of the Public Policies.
Case-Studies on Power Sharing
To further elaborate
on how power-sharing works let’s look at a few examples from around the world.
The two case-studies outlined below, from BELGIUM and SRI LANKA
will
demonstrate how democracies handle the demands for power sharing.
The Belgium
Case-Study
Belgium is a small
country in Europe. Population wise and area wise smaller than state of Haryana.
Belgium shares its borders with France, Germany, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Ethic
composition is very complex.
59% of the population in the Flemish region speaks Dutch, another 40% people live in the Wallonia region and speak French. The remaining 1% of the Belgians speak German.
Brussels, which is the capital city of
Belgium, is home to 80% people who speak French while 20% speak Dutch. The minority French-speaking community was relatively rich and
powerful.
The Dutch-speaking
community who got the benefit of the economic development and education much
later resented this fact. Hence, the tension between these two communities was
very severe in Brussels.
Accommodation
in Belgium
The social disparity
led to tensions between Dutch & French speaking communities during 1950s
and 1960s. In order to bring harmony between the two communities, Belgium
took Different steps. From 1970 to 1993, the Belgians made modifications in their constitution
four times so as to work out an arrangement that would enable everyone to live
together in the same country.
Some elements of the Belgian
Constitution are listed below:
· 1) The Belgian Constitution prescribes an equal number of Dutch and
French-speaking ministers in the Central Government. No single community can
make decisions unilaterally.
· 2) Many powers of the
Central Government have been given to State Governments of two regions of the country.
State governments are not subordinate to Central Government.
· 3) Brussels has a separate Government in which both the communities
have equal representation.
· 4) Apart from the Central and State Government, there is also a
third kind of Government. It’s called the Community Government.
Government has the power regarding Cultural, Educational and language related
Matters.
Thus, we can see that
in Belgium, the leaders realized that the unity of the country is possible
only by respecting the feelings and interests of different communities and regions.
Country remain united due to Power Sharing. Brussels was
Chosen as the Headquarters of the European Union(Union of European Countries, Now 28 Member
Nations. Found in 1993) from the very beginning.
The Sri Lanka Case-Study
Sri Lanka is an
Island Nation. Near to Southern Coast of India. Like many other South-Asian
countries, Sri Lanka has a diverse population(Two Crore).
Where the Sinhala speaking population is
74% and the Tamil-speaking is 18%. Among the Tamils, there are two sub-groups, first are the Tamil
natives of the country which are called “Sri Lankan Tamils”(13%) and
the others are the ones whose forefathers came from India as PLANTATION
workers during the colonial period, this group is called ‘Indian Tamils’.(5%).There
are about 7% Christians who are both Tamils &Sinhales.
Majoritarianism
in Sri Lanka
When Sri Lankan
became an independent country in 1948, the leaders of the Sinhala
community wanted to secure their dominance over the Government by
virtue of their majority. In 1956, an Act was passed to recognize Sinhala as
the only official language, thereby disregarding Tamil. Moreover, a
new constitution stipulated that the state shall protect and foster Buddhism.
The government
followed Preferential policies that favoured Sinhala
applicants for university positions and government Jobs.
All these newly
implemented back-to-back measures gradually gave rise to the feeling of alienation
among the Sri Lankan Tamils. As a result, the relations between the Sinhala and
the Tamil communities strained over time.
The Sri Lankan Tamils launched parties and Struggles
(Including LTTE-1976).
But their demand for more
autonomy (Demand for Separate State.) to provinces by the Tamils was repeatedly denied.
The distrust between the two communities
turned into a widespread conflict and soon took the shape of a Civil War.
The social, cultural, and economic growth of the country suffered a terrible
setback because of the civil war.
In
a sharp contrast to the Belgium case-study, the Sri Lanka case-study
demonstrates that if a majority community wants to impose its dominance over
others and refuses to share power, it can undermine the unity and the safety of
the country.
The Need for Power Sharing
Two Reasons for Power
Sharing
1)
Prudential 2) Moral Reasons.
·
Power sharing is desirable because it helps
in reducing the possibility of conflicts between social groups. Hence,
power-sharing ensures social harmony and peace.
·
Power sharing avoids the tyranny of the
majority, which can destroy the minority social groups.
·
Power sharing is the very spirit of a democratic
rule and requires sharing of power with those affected by its exercise as well
as those who have to bear its consequences.
Forms
of Power Sharing
Power sharing has
emerged as a strong substitute to the idea of undivided political power, which
believed in giving power to one person or group of a person located in one
place. The core principle of power-sharing is that people are the source of all
political power. A democracy gives due respect to diverse groups and views
prevailing in a society and everyone has a voice in the shaping of public
politics. In a democracy, therefore, it is mandatory that the political power
should be distributed among as many citizens as possible. Let’s take a look at
some of the common forms of power sharing.
Some Common Forms of Power Sharing
· 1) Horizontal Distribution of Power: In this form, the power is shared among different
organs of the government, such as the legislature, the
executive, and the judiciary. This makes it
possible for the different organs of the Government placed at the same level to
exercise different powers.
· 2) Vertical Division of Power: The sharing of power can also be done at the different
levels of the government- a general Government for the entire country
and Governments at the provincial or regional level. The division of
higher and lower levels of Government is called the vertical division of power.
· 3) Power is also
shared among different social groups, such
as the religious and linguistic groups. The ‘Community Government’ is a good example of this type of power sharing.
· 4) Various power-sharing arrangements can also
be seen in the way political parties, pressure groups, and movements
control or influence those in power.
Power
Sharing in India
India being a democratic country, the people of India
elect their representatives from various political parties. The people’s
elected representatives, in turn, elect the Government to make or modify the
rules and regulations and to carry out the day to day activities of governance.