POWER SHARING

● SOCIAL COMPOSITION OF BELGIUM

- A small country in Europe with a population of about one crore.
- Smaller in area than the state of Haryana
- Very complex ethnic composition having:
1. 59% of the population lives in the Flemish region and speaks Dutch language
2. 40% of the population lives in the Wallonia region and speaks French language
3. 1% of the population speaks German language
4. In the capital city of Brussels, 80% people are French speakers and 20% people are Dutch
speakers

Consequences
- By taking advantage of its numeric majority, the Dutch wanted to force its will on French and
German speaking people.
- This led to tension among the Dutch and French speaking communities
- The tension was more serious in the Brussels as the situation was contrary
- The Dutch speakers who constituted a majority in the country were a minority in the capital.

- However, the Belgian leaders adopted an innovative strategy to solve this problem. Some of the
main elements are:
1. In the central government, the number of French and Dutch speakers shall be equal so that no
single community could take unilateral decisions.
2. Many powers of the central government have been given to the state government of the two
main regions of the country which aren’t considered subordinate to the central government.
3. The capital city of Brussels has a separate government which also represents the both
communities equally.
4. The French speakers had accepted equal representation in Brussels as the Dutch speakers had
accepted equal representation in the central government.
5. There was a third kind of government established called the Community government which
was elected by the people of any language community in Belgium. This government has power
on cultural language and education.
 ● SOCIAL COMPOSITION OF SRI LANKA
- An island nation located a few kilometers away from the southern coast of Tamil Nadu and
having a population of around 2 crores.
- Has a diverse population
- The major social groups:
1. Sinhalese - 74%
2. Tamils - 18 : Indian Tamils(13%) and Sri Lankan Tamils(5%)
3. Christians - 5%
- Sinhalese follow Buddhism
- Tamils either follow Hinduism or Islam
- 7% of both Tamils and Sinhalese are Christians

Consequences
- The Sinhala community constituted a big majority and thus wanted to secure dominance over
the government.
- Following this was the Majoritarian policy which established the Sinhala supremacy. Some of
the main features are:
1. An act was passed in 1956 that recognized Sinhala as the only official language in Sri Lanka
which disregarded the Tamils.
2. The government preferred Sinhalese over the Tamils for university positions and government
employment.
3. Buddhism was fostered and protected.
4. Tamils felt alienated as the government led by Sinhalese were insensitive to the Tamil culture
& language and denied their equal rights.

- The Sri Lankan launched struggle for:

1. Recognition of Tamil as a official language
2. Regional autonomy
3. Equal opportunity in education and employment
- Yet they were constantly denied
- During 1980s, political organizations were formed which demanded for an independent Tamil
state in the Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka
- This struggle soon became a civil war which led to a loss of many lives and people forced to
leave their own country.
 ● POWER SHARING: Distribution of powers among the different organs of the
government to ensure the stability of democracy.

Why Power sharing?

There are two different sets of reasons which favor power sharing:
❖ Prudential reasons
1. Helps in reducing conflict between diverse social groups
2. Ensures the stability of political order
3. Ultimately leads to the unity and integrity of the nation

❖ Moral reasons
1. It’s the very spirit of democracy as a democratic rule involves sharing of power between the
government and the governed
2. People have the right to be consulted on how they are governed
3. The political system can only be called leg image when citizens also find space in that system.

Forms of Power Sharing

In a democracy, diversity plays a very important role . Everyone has a voice in shaping the
political system. In other words, people are the ultimate source of political power. Thus,
democracy believes in the distribution of power among its people.

❖ Horizontal Distribution of Power / System of Checks and Balances

1. Division of power among the three organs of the government : legislature, executive and
judiciary.
2. It’s described as a horizontal distribution of power because it allows all the three organs placed
at the same level to exercise different powers.
3. This is also known as the system of checks and balances as it guarantees that no part of the
government has unlimited power.

❖ Vertical Distribution of Power

1. Division of power among the three levels of the government : central, state and local
governments.
2. India is also known for a federal system of government.
3. This division of levels is also called federal division of power.

❖ Power Sharing among Social Groups

1. Power sharing among different social groups like religious and linguistic groups.
2. Power is also shared in different communities like minorities, women, SC and STs.
3. This is done to ensure their representation in the government instead of them feeling alienated.
 ❖ Power sharing in Political parties and Pressure groups
1. Coalition is a common form of power sharing in politics. It’s when two or more parties
cooperate or form an alliance to share power when elected.
2. Similarly, there is alliance between government and pressure groups. Pressure groups
influence the decisions of the government and thus share political power.