Power sharing
 
Power sharing means the distribution of power among
the organs of the government such as
the legislature, executive and judiciary
It ensures that there is stability in governance
Lets see the example of two democratic countries
Belgium and Sri Lanka
to understand
how the power is shared in a country?
Belgium is a small country in Europe, smaller than Haryana
Its neighbours are Netherlands, France and Germany
It has a population of a 1.14 crore
which is almost half
of the population of Haryana
Ethnic composition of Belgium is a bit complicated
Ethnic means
People belonging to the same ethnic group believe
in their common descent because of similarities
of physical type or of culture
They need not always have the same religion or nationality
Out of the total population of Belgium
59 %  lives in the Flemish region  and speak Dutch language
Another 40 % people live in the Walloon region and speak French
rest 1%
speak German
Lets look at the capital city
Brussels
Here  80 % people speak French
but  20 % are Dutch-speaking. So ethnic composition
is complex and inverse
in state and capital
In Brussels French speakers are more than dutch speakers
but in country Dutch speakers are more than the French speakers
Since the minority French-speaking community was relatively rich and powerful
it  was disliked by the Dutch-speaking community
as they did not had equal rights earlier
Because of this there were tensions between them
specially during the 1950s and 1960s
This tension was even more
in Brussel as Dutch-speaking people were in majority
in the country, but a minority in the capital Brussels
We will now compare this to the situation in Sri Lanka
It has about 2 crore people, almost same as in Haryana
Sri Lanka has a diverse population
There are 74% Sinhala language speakers
and 18% Tamil speakers
Tamils have two subgroups - Srilankan Tamils and Indian Tamils
Srilankan Tamils are 13%
and Indian Tamils are 5%
 
There are many communities here
Buddhist Hindus, Muslims and Christians
Most Sinhalese speakers are Buddhist and rest are Christians
Most tamils speakers are Hindus and Muslims
and rest are Christians
There are about 7% Christians in total
 
 
May be The communities in majority could have imposed their
wish and will on the minorities of the country
If such a situation conflicts would have happened
 
country would have been divided
Lets find out
what happened in these countries
Lets know what happened in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka became independent democracy  in 1948
Since Sinhalese were in majority
they had more influence on elected government
The government took majoritarian measures
and supported the Sinhala majority
Majoritarian means believing in decision by a majority.
whatever decisions are taken by the majority are accepted.
In such rule the minority is ignored
In 1956, Sinhala was declared
the only official language
Sinhala community was getting preference everywhere
be it university
or government jobs
It did not end here
the new constitution was only promoting
one religion Buddhism.
Due to all these things
 
the Sri Lankan Tamils felt differentiated
as tamil was not even being considered
Everything was being done
for Sinhalas.
To fight back for their rights the Sri Lankan Tamils
formed new parties and started struggles
for the recognition of Tamil as an official language,
also for equality of opportunity, for equality
of education and jobs. But nothing worked out
By 1980s
new political organisations were formed which wanted
an independent state for Tamils- which they
called Tamil Eelam or Tamil State
The situations became so worse that these conflicts took the shape of civil war.
As a result
thousands of people of both communities
were killed. Many people left the country
and many lost their jobs. The civil war caused a serious
setback to not only social and cultural
and but economic life of the country as well.
The Belgium government accepted the existence of
regional differences and cultural diversities
and amended their constitution four times
between 1970 and 1993
so as to work out an arrangement
that would enable everyone
to live in harmony and peace
This way was very innovative.
In broader term, they formed 4 governments
Central Government
State Government, separate government in the capital
and Community government
In central government
constitution defined that the number of Dutch and French-speaking
ministers shall be equal in the central government
Some special laws require the support of majority of members
each of linguistic group
Thus, no single community can make decisions individually
The state governments are not subordinate
to the Central Government but instead they got equality.
Separate government in the capital was formed
Brussels got separate government in which both the communities have equal representation.
Community government is elected by people belonging
one language community- Dutch, French and
German communities
no matter where they live
This government has the power to take care of
cultural, educational and language-related issues.
Despite being complicated these arrangements in Belgium have
worked well so far
They helped to avoid civil tiff
and possible division of the country on basis of language
When many countries of Europe came together to form
the European Union,
Brussels was chosen as its headquarters as
it had successfully handled diversity.
 
 
In Belgium, the leaders have realised that the unity of the country
is possible only by respecting the feelings and interests
of different communities and regions
Because of this they set an example
of Power sharing
Sri Lanka shows contrasting example
It shows us that  if  the majority community refuses to share power
it can harm the unity of the country.
 
 
There are two types of reasons -Prudential and Moral reasons
because of which it is very important
Prudential reasons are thoughtful reasons
It reduces the possibility of conflict between
social groups and ensures that the systems are stable
Imposing the will of majority community
others may work in short run
but in the long run
It harms the unity of the country.
Moral Reasons- Power sharing shows the spirit of democracy.
A democratic rule
involves sharing of power with be people
who are going to be affected by it.
People have a right to be consulted
on how they are to be governed
In modern democracies, power sharing arrangements can take many forms.
It can be Horizontal division of power
Vertical or Federal Division
It can be sharing the power among various social groups
and also can be sharing of power among political parties and pressure groups
Lets know each one of them
First is, Horizontal Distribution of Power - Power is shared among
different organs of government such as Legislature,
Executive and Judiciary
it places different organs of government
at the same level to exercise different powers
It ensures that no government is has unlimited power
and can keep a check on each other.
This creates a balance of power among various institutions.
It works on the system of Checks and Balance.
It means that every organ is keeping a check on each other.
Ministers are responsible to the parliament
and judges monitor the executive and the laws made by legislatures.
This arrangement is arrangement of checks and balances.
 
Second is
Federal division of power or Vertical division of power.
Power can be shared among
governments at different levels
Central government or general government for the entire country
another governments at the provincial or regional level
like State Governments.
Although this system is not followed in all countries but many countries are having
these governments. Like it was there in Belgium
but in Sri Lanka it was not there.
This federal division can be further extended to
lower levels  like the municipality and panchayat system that we have in India
Third, sharing among different social groups,
such as the religious and language based groups.
It can be done in two forms. One is the Community government
The one that we have seen in Belgium is a good example
of this type of government.
Second is, Reserved constituencies that we see in India
the socially weaker sections and women
get representation in the
parliament and administration.
The purpose of this arrangement is to fit
diverse social groups
in the government
so that no body feels discriminated
Fourth is, role of  political parties, pressure groups and movements
Presence of many political parties ensures that power does not remain in one hand
and people always have option to choose.
Coalition government is one such example where two or more parties
form an alliance to contest elections.
If their alliance is elected, they form a coalition government and thus share power.
Second way can be the Interest Groups
In a democracy, we find interest groups
such as those of traders, businessmen,
industrialists, farmers and industrial workers
Sometimes they participate through governmental committees
or otherwise they effect the decision making process.
So in this chapter we learned
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
