Power Sharing Full Notes

Chapter-1 (Power-Sharing)

1. Story of Sri Lanka

2. Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka

3. Story of Belgium and its Accommodation

4. Why Power Sharing is desirable ?

5. Different Forms of Power Sharing

1. STORY OF SRILANKA

- It is an Island nation located few Km off the southern coast of Tamil Nadu.

Population = 2 Crore

Social Groups

Sinhala-speakers (74%) –Buddhists.

Tamil-speakers(18%)-Hindus or Muslims.

( Tamil speakers )

i)Srilankan Tamils

(Natives of the country.)

ii) Indians Tamils.

(Whose ancestor migrated from Indians as plantation workers during colonial period.)

2. Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka.

It is a belief that majority community should be able to rule a country in whichever way it wants and ignores and disregards the needs and desires of the minority.

*Freedom

-Srilanka gots freedom from British rule on 4 feb 1948.

*March towards Majoritarianism

After independence the leader of the Sinhala community tried to secure dominance over government by virtue of their majority.

*Some steps were taken by democratically elected government to establish Sinhala supremacy.

(a) Sinhala was recognized as the only official language of Srilanka by passing on act in 1956.

(b) The government favoured sinhalas for university positions and governments jobs.

(c) The constitution recognized Buddhism as official religion which meant that the government shall protect and faster it.

# Reactions of Tamils.

*All these discriminarory policies of the government increased the feeling of alienation among Srilankan Tamils.

*They felt that none of the major political parties led by the Buddhist Sinhala leaders were sensitive to their language and cultures.

*Srilankan Tamils launched parties for the:

a) Recognition of Tamils as an official language.

b) Regional autonomy.

c) And equality of opportunity in securing education and jobs.

But their demands were denied.

Demand for Tamil Eelam.

*After denial of thir demands they formed many political organisation for demanding an independent Tamil Eelam (state) in northern and eastern parts of srilanka.

*The distrust between the communities grow which turned into civil war.

*As a results thousands of people both the communities have been killed and many were forced to leave the country as refugees.

(3) Story of Belgium and its accommodation.

# Belgium:

*Belgium is a small country in Europe.

*smaller in area than Haryana.

*Borders- France,Netherland,Germany and Luxemburg.

*population-1crore=1/2x population of Haryana

*capital-Brussels

#Social groups in Belgium.

*Dutch (59%)-lives in the Flemish region.

*French(4%)-Wallonia region.

*German(1%)-North-east of Wallonia region.

# Brussels

*French (80%)

*Dutch(20%)

#Tension among Dutch and French (1950s-1960s).

French-speking community,although minority,were relatively rich and powerful.

This was resented by Dutch-speaking community who got the benefit of economic development later.

# Accommodation in Belgium

Stands for – Adjustment

*Belgium leaders recognized the existence of regional and cultural difference.

*They ammended their constitution 4 times berween (1970-1993) to enable arrangement for making long lasting peace.

*They made arrangement that are different from any other country and is very innovative.

* Some of the elements of Belgian model.

i) Equal representations in the central Assembly

Constitution prescribes that the numbers of Dutch and French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the central government.

ii) Equal representations in Brussels

Brussels has a separate government in which both the communities have equal representation.

iii) Power transferred to the states

Many powers of the central government have been given to state governments of the two regions of the country and they are not subordinate to the central government

iv) Community government

It is elected by people belonging to one language community-Dutch,French and german-speaking.They take decisions regarding cultural,educational and language-related issues.

3. Why Power-Sharing is desirable ?

Prudential reason

It reduces the possibility of conflict between social groups. And the conflicts often lends to violence and political instability.

Eg:- Sri Lanka.

Moral reason

Power sharing is the spirit of democracy.

In democracy the government is elected by people,so they must be consented in how they are to be governed.

4. Forms of Power Sharing

i) Power shared among different organs of government

The power shared among legislative,excutive and judiciary and this is called horizontal distribution of power.

It is called so because different organs are placed at the some level but exercise different power.

Reason for separation

To ensure that none of the organs can exercise unlimited power.

How it is done ?

By checking the power of each others. This system is called a System of Check and Balance.

ii ) Power shared among governments at different levels.

*A general government for the entire country is ususally called fedral government.In india we refer to it as the central or union government.

*The government at provincial or regional are called by different names in different countries.In india we call them state government.

*There are many countries where there are no provincial or state government.

*In India the constition clearly defined the power of different levels of government .It was also done in Belgium but refused in srilanka.

*In India one more level of government has been introduced which is called local government.

Central –Fedral

-union (india)

Regional-provinicial

-State(india)

Local

iii) Power shared among different social groups

*Community government of Belgium is a good example of this arrangement.

*Reservation:-

Some seats have been reserved for the weaker sections of the society to give space in the government and asminstration.

iv) Power Shared among political parties

Direct Power Sharing

*When two or more parties form an alliance to contest elections.If their alliance is elected,they form a coalition government and thus share power.

Indirect Power Sharing

When candidates from different parties contest election , which lead to competition among different parties.

The competition ensures that the power does not remain in one hand. This is referred to as indirect power sharing.

V) Power shared among Interest groups

Interest groups of traders busiessman,farmers and factory workers will have a share in government power either through participation in governmental committees or bringing influence on the decision-making process.