POWER SHARING SUMMARY

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.