Power-sharing PDF

Power-sharing Overview Chapter I With this chapter, we resume the tour of democracy that we started last year. We noted last year that in a democ...

Power-sharing Overview Chapter I With this chapter, we resume the tour of democracy that we started last year. We noted last year that in a democracy all power does not rest with any one organ of the government. An intelligent sharing of power among legislature, executive and judiciary is very important to the design of a democracy. In this and the next two chapters, we carry this idea of power-sharing forward. We start with two stories from Belgium and Sri Lanka. Both these stories are about how democracies handle demands for power-sharing. The stories yield some general conclusions about the need for power-sharing in democracy. This allows us to discuss various forms of power-sharing that will be taken up in the following two chapters. Po w e r - sh a r i n g 2024-25 1 Chapter 1.indd 1 08-04-2022 12:29:05  Belgium and Sri Lanka Belgium is a small country in Europe, to tensions between the Dutch- smaller in area than the state of speaking and French-speaking Haryana. It has borders with France, communities during the 1950s and the Netherlands, Germany and 1960s. The tension between the Luxembourg. It has a population of two communities was more acute a little over one crore, about half the in Brussels. Brussels presented a population of Haryana. The ethnic special problem: the Dutch-speaking I have a simple composition of this small country is people constituted a majority in equation in mind. very complex. Of the country’s total the country, but a minority in the Sharing power = population, 59 per cent lives in the capital. dividing power = Flemish region and speaks Dutch Let us compare this to the weakening the language. Another 40 per cent people situation in another country. Sri country. Why do we live in the Wallonia region and speak Lanka is an island nation, just a few start by talking of French. Remaining one per cent of kilometres off the southern coast this? the Belgians speak German. In the of Tamil Nadu. It has about two capital city Brussels, 80 per cent crore people, about the same as in people speak French while 20 per Haryana. Like other nations in the cent are Dutch-speaking. South Asia region, Sri Lanka has a The minority French-speaking diverse population. The major social community was relatively rich and groups are the Sinhala-speakers (74 powerful. This was resented by the per cent) and the Tamil-speakers (18 Dutch-speaking community who got per cent). Among Tamils there are the benefit of economic development two sub-groups. Tamil natives of and education much later. This led the country are called ‘Sri Lankan Communities and regions of Belgium © Wikipedia Ethnic: A social D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s division based on shared culture. People belonging to the same ethnic group believe in Brussels-Capital Region their common descent because of similarities Walloon (French-speaking) of physical type or of Flemish (Dutch-speaking) culture or both. They need not always have German-speaking Look at the maps of Belgium and Sri Lanka. In the same religion or which region, do you find concentration of different nationality. communities? For more details, visit https://www.belgium.be/en 2024-25 2 Chapter 1.indd 2 08-04-2022 12:29:07  Tamils’ (13 per cent). The rest, the Dutch community could take whose forefathers came from India as advantage of its numeric majority plantation workers during colonial and force its will on the French and period, are called ‘Indian Tamils’. German-speaking population. This As you can see from the map, Sri would push the conflict among Lankan Tamils are concentrated in communities further. This could the north and east of the country. lead to a very messy partition of the Most of the Sinhala-speaking people country; both the sides would claim are Buddhists, while most of the control over Brussels. In Sri Lanka, Tamils are Hindus or Muslims. There the Sinhala community enjoyed are about 7 per cent Christians, who an even bigger majority and could are both Tamil and Sinhala. impose its will on the entire country. Just imagine what could happen Now, let us look at what happened in situations like this. In Belgium, in both these countries. Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka emerged as an independent language and culture. They felt that country in 1948. The leaders of the constitution and government the Sinhala community sought to policies denied them equal political secure dominance over government rights, discriminated against them in by virtue of their majority. As a getting jobs and other opportunities result, the democratically elected and ignored their interests. As a government adopted a series of majoritarian measures to establish Ethnic Communities Sinhala supremacy. of Sri Lanka In 1956, an Act was passed Sinhalese Sri Lankan Tamil to recognise Sinhala as the only Indian Tamil Muslim official language, thus disregarding Tamil. The governments followed preferential policies that favoured Sinhala applicants for university positions and government jobs. A new constitution stipulated that the state shall protect and foster Buddhism. Po w e r - sh a r i n g All these government measures, Majoritarianism: A coming one after the other, gradually belief that the majority increased the feeling of alienation community should be among the Sri Lankan Tamils. able to rule a country in whichever way it wants, They felt that none of the major by disregarding the political parties led by the Buddhist wishes and needs of the Sinhala leaders was sensitive to their For more details, visit https://www.gov.lk minority. 2024-25 3 Chapter 1.indd 3 08-04-2022 12:29:08  result, the relations between the Tamil Eelam (state) in northern and What’s wrong Sinhala and Tamil communities eastern parts of Sri Lanka. if the majority strained over time. The distrust between the two community rules? If Sinhalas don’t The Sri Lankan Tamils launched communities turned into widespread rule in Sri Lanka, parties and struggles for the recognition conflict. It soon turned into a civil where else will of Tamil as an official language, for war. As a result thousands of people they rule? regional autonomy and equality of of both the communities have been opportunity in securing education killed. Many families were forced to and jobs. But their demand for more leave the country as refugees and many autonomytoprovincespopulatedbythe more lost their livelihoods. The civil Tamils was repeatedly denied. By 1980s, war has caused a terrible setback to the several political organisations were social, cultural and economic life of the formed demanding an independent country. It ended in 2009. Accommodation in Belgium The Belgian leaders took a different the support of majority of members path. They recognised the existence from each linguistic group. Thus, no of regional differences and cultural single community can make decisions diversities. Between 1970 and 1993, unilaterally. they amended their constitution four  Many powers of the Central times so as to work out an arrangement Government have been given to State that would enable everyone to live Governments of the two regions of together within the same country. the country. The State Governments The arrangement they worked out is are not subordinate to the Central Government. different from any other country and is very innovative. Here are some of the  Brusselshasaseparategovernment elements of the Belgian model: in which both the communities have Civil war: A violent equal representation. The French- conflict between  Constitution prescribes that the speaking people accepted equal opposing groups number of Dutch and French-speaking within a country that representation in Brussels because becomes so intense ministers shall be equal in the central the Dutch-speaking community has that it appears like a government. Some special laws require accepted equal representation in the war. D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s © Wikipedia What kind of a solution is this? I am glad our Constitution does not say The photograph here is of a street address in Belgium. You will notice which minister will come from that place names and directions in two which community. languages – French and Dutch. 2024-25 4 Chapter 1.indd 4 19/03/2024 10:38:13  accepted equal representation in the Central Government. Apart from the Central and the State Government, there is a third kind of government. This ‘community government’ is elected by people belonging to one language community – Dutch, French and German-speaking – no matter where they live. This government has the power regarding cultural, educational and language-related issues. You might find the Belgian model very complicated. It indeed is very complicated, even for people living in Belgium. But these arrangements European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium have worked well so far. They helped to avoid civic strife between the two major communities and a possible Europe came together to form the So you are division of the country on linguistic European Union, Brussels was saying that lines. When many countries of chosen as its headquarters. sharing of power makes us more powerful. Sounds odd! Let me think. Read any newspaper for one week and make clippings of news related to ongoing conflicts or wars. A group of five students could pool their clippings together and do the following:  Classify these conflicts by their location (your state, India, outside India).  Find out the cause of each of these conflicts. How many of these are related to power sharing disputes?  Which of these conflicts could be resolved by working out power sharing arrangements? What do we learn from these two and regions. Such a realisation stories of Belgium and Sri Lanka? resulted in mutually acceptable Both are democracies. Yet, they arrangements for sharing power. Po w e r - sh a r i n g dealt with the question of power Sri Lanka shows us a contrasting sharing differently. In Belgium, example. It shows us that if a the leaders have realised that the majority community wants to unity of the country is possible force its dominance over others only by respecting the feelings and and refuses to share power, it can interests of different communities undermine the unity of the country. 2024-25 5 Chapter 1.indd 5 08-04-2022 12:29:11  The cartoon at the left refers to the problems of running the Germany’s grand coalition government that includes the two major parties of the country, namely the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party. The two parties are historically rivals to each other. They © Tab - The Calgary Sun, Cagle Cartoons Inc. had to form a coalition government because neither of them got clear majority of seats on their own in the 2005 elections. They take divergent positions on several policy matters, but still jointly run the government. For details about the German Parliament, visit https://www.bundestag.de/en Tyranny of the majority is not just oppressive for the minority; it often affects majority adversely as well. There is a second, deeper reason why power sharing is good for Why power sharing is desirable? democracies. Power sharing is Thus, two different sets of reasons can the very spirit of democracy. A be given in favour of power sharing. democratic rule involves sharing Firstly, power sharing is good because power with those affected by its it helps to reduce the possibility of exercise, and who have to live with conflict between social groups. Since its effects. People have a right to be social conflict often leads to violence consulted on how they are to be and political instability, power sharing governed. A legitimate government is a good way to ensure the stability is one where citizens, through of political order. Imposing the will participation, acquire a stake in of majority community over others the system. may look like an attractive option in Let us call the first set of reasons the short run, but in the long run it prudential and the second moral. undermines the unity of the nation. While prudential reasons stress that power sharing will bring out better outcomes, moral reasons emphasise the very act of power sharing as valuable. D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s Annette studies in a Dutch medium school in the northern region of Belgium. Many French-speaking students Prudential: Based on in her school want the medium of instruction to be French. prudence, or on careful calculation of gains Selvi studies in a school in the northern region of Sri Lanka. and losses. Prudential All the students in her school are Tamil-speaking and they decisions are usually want the medium of instruction to be Tamil. contrasted with decisions If the parents of Annette and Selvi were to approach based purely on moral respective governments to realise the desire of the child considerations. who is more likely to succeed? And why? 2024-25 6 Chapter 1.indd 6 19/03/2024 10:39:19  Khalil’s As usual, Vikram was driving the motorbike under a vow of silence and Vetal was the pillion rider. As usual, Vetal dilemma started telling Vikram a story to keep him awake while driving. This time the story went as follows: “In the city of Beirut, there lived a man called Khalil. His parents came from different communities. His father was an Orthodox Christian and mother a Sunni Muslim. This was not so uncommon in this modern, cosmopolitan city. People from various communities that lived in Lebanon came to live in its capital, Beirut. They lived together, intermingled, yet fought a bitter civil war among themselves. One of Khalil’s uncles was killed in that war. At the end of this civil war, Lebanon’s leaders came together and agreed to some basic rules for power sharing among different communities. As per these rules, the country’s President must belong to the Maronite sect of Catholic Christians. The Prime Minister must be from the Sunni Muslim community. The post of Deputy Prime Minister is fixed for Orthodox Christian sect and that of the Speaker for Shi’a Muslims. Under this pact, the Christians agreed not to seek French protection and the Muslims agreed not to seek unification with the neighbouring state of Syria.When the Christians and Muslims came to this agreement, they were nearly equal in population. Both sides have continued to respect this agreement though now the Muslims are in clear majority. Khalil does not like this system one bit. He is a popular man with political ambition. But under the present system, the top position is out of his reach. He does not practise either his father’s or his mother’s religion and does not wish to be known by either. He cannot understand why Lebanon can’t be like any other ‘normal’ democracy. “Just hold an election, allow everyone to contest and whoever wins maximum votes becomes the president, no matter which community he comes from. Why can’t we do that, like in other democracies of the world?” he asks. His elders, who have seen the bloodshed of the civil war, tell him that the present system is the best guarantee for peace…” The story was not finished, but they had reached the TV tower where they stopped every day. Vetal wrapped up quickly and posed his customary question to Vikram: “If you had the power to rewrite the rules in Lebanon, what would you do? Would you adopt the ‘regular’ rules followed everywhere, as Khalil suggests? Or stick to the old rules? Or do something else?” Vetal did not forget to remind Vikram of their basic Po w e r - sh a r i n g pact: “If you have an answer in mind and yet do not speak up, your mobike will freeze, and so will you!” Can you help poor Vikram in answering Vetal? 2024-25 7 Chapter 1.indd 7 08-04-2022 12:29:19  Forms of power-sharing The idea of power-sharing has power should be distributed among emerged in opposition to the notions as many citizens as possible. of undivided political power. For a In modern democracies, power long time, it was believed that all sharing arrangements can take many power of a government must reside forms. Let us look at some of the in one person or group of persons most common arrangements that we located at one place. It was felt that have or will come across. if the power to decide is dispersed, 1 Power is shared among different it would not be possible to take organs of government, such as the quick decisions and to enforce them. legislature, executive and judiciary. But these notions have changed Let us call this horizontal distribution with the emergence of democracy. of power because it allows different One basic principle of democracy organs of government placed at is that people are the source of all the same level to exercise different political power. In a democracy, powers. Such a separation ensures people rule themselves through that none of the organs can exercise institutions of self-government. In unlimited power. Each organ checks a good democratic government, due the others. This results in a balance respect is given to diverse groups of power among various institutions. and views that exist in a society. Last year, we studied that in a Everyone has a voice in the shaping democracy, even though ministers of public policies. Therefore, it and government officials exercise follows that in a democracy, political power, they are responsible to the Reigning the Reins Parliament or State Assemblies. © Olle Johansson - Sweden, Cagle Cartoons Inc., 25 Feb. 2005 Similarly, although judges are appointed by the executive, they can check the functioning of executive or laws made by the legislatures. This arrangement is called a system of checks and balances. 2 Power can be shared among governments at different levels – a general government for the entire D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s country and governments at the provincial or regional level. Such a general government for the entire country is usually called federal government. In India, we refer to it as In 2005, some new laws were made in Russia giving more powers to the Central or Union Government. its president. During the same time, the US president visited Russia. What, according to this cartoon, is the relationship between democracy The governments at the provincial or and concentration of power? Can you think of some other examples to regional level are called by different illustrate the point being made here? names in different countries. 2024-25 8 Chapter 1.indd 8 08-04-2022 12:29:19  In India, we call them State groups, who otherwise, would feel Governments. This system is not alienated from the government. This followed in all countries. There are method is used to give minority many countries where there are no communities a fair share in power. In provincial or state governments. Unit II, we shall look at various ways But in those countries like ours, of accommodating social diversities. where there are different levels 4 Power sharing arrangements of government, the constitution can also be seen in the way political clearly lays down the powers of parties, pressure groups and different levels of government. This movements control or influence is what they did in Belgium, but was those in power. In a democracy, refused in Sri Lanka. This is called the citizens must have freedom to federal division of power. The same choose among various contenders principle can be extended to levels f or power. In contempor ar y of government lower than the State democracies, this takes the form government, such as the municipality of competition among different and panchayat. Let us call division of parties. Such competition ensures powers involving higher and lower that power does not remain in levels of government vertical division one hand. In the long run, power of power. We shall study these at is shared among different political some length in the next chapter. parties that represent different 3 Power may also be shared ideologies and social groups. among different social groups, Sometimes this kind of sharing can such as the religious and linguistic be direct, when two or more parties groups. ‘Community government’ form an alliance to contest elections. in Belgium is a good example of this If their alliance is elected, they form arrangement. In some countries, a coalition government and thus there are constitutional and legal share power. In a democracy, we arrangements, whereby socially find interest groups, such as those of weaker sections and women are traders, businessmen, industrialists, represented in the legislatures farmers and industrial workers. and administration. Last year, we They also will have a share in In my school, studied the system of ‘reserved governmental power, either through the class monitor constituencies’ in assemblies and participation in governmental changes every month. Is that the parliament of our country. This committees or bringing influence on what you call a type of arrangement is meant to the decision-making process. In Unit power sharing give space in the government and III, we shall study the working of arrangement? administration to diverse social political parties. Po w e r - sh a r i n g 2024-25 9 Chapter 1.indd 9 4/29/2022 5:00:31 PM  Here are some examples of power sharing. Which of the four types of power sharing do these represent? Who is sharing power with whom?  The Bombay High Court ordered the Maharashtra State Government to immediately take action and improve living conditions for the 2,000-odd children at seven children’s homes in Mumbai.  The government of Ontario state in Canada has agreed to a land claim settlement with the aboriginal community. The Minister responsible for Native Affairs announced that the government will work with aboriginal people in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation.  Russia’s two influential political parties, the Union of Right Forces and the Liberal Yabloko Movement, agreed to unite their organisations into a strong right- wing coalition. They propose to have a common list of candidates in the next parliamentary elections.  The finance ministers of various states in Nigeria got together and demanded that the federal government declare its sources of income. They also wanted to know the formula by which the revenue is distributed to various State Governments. Exercises 1. What are the different forms of power sharing in modern democracies? Give an example of each of these. 2. State one prudential reason and one moral reason for power sharing with an example from the Indian context. 3. After reading this chapter, three students drew different conclusions. Which of these do you agree with and why? Give your reasons in about 50 words. Thomman - Power sharing is necessary only in societies which have religious, linguistic or ethnic divisions. Mathayi – Power sharing is suitable only for big countries that D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s have regional divisions. Ouseph – Every society needs some form of power sharing even if it is small or does not have social divisions. 4. The Mayor of Merchtem, a town near Brussels in Belgium, has defended a ban on speaking French in the town’s schools. He said that the ban would help all non-Dutch speakers integrate in this Flemish town. Do you think that this measure is in keeping with the spirit of Belgium’s power sharing arrangements? Give your reasons in about 50 words. 2024-25 10 Chapter 1.indd 10 08-04-2022 12:29:21  5. Read the following passage and pick out any one of the prudential reasons for power sharing offered in this. “We need to give more power to the panchayats to realise the dream of Mahatma Gandhi and the hopes of the makers of our Constitution. Panchayati Raj establishes true democracy. It restores power to the only place where power belongs in a democracy – in the hands of the people. Giving power to Panchayats is also a way to reduce corruption and increase administrative efficiency. When people participate in the planning and implementation of developmental schemes, they would naturally exercise greater control over these schemes. This would eliminate the corrupt middlemen. Thus, Panchayati Raj will strengthen the foundations of our democracy.” 6. Different arguments are usually put forth in favour of and against Exercises power sharing. Identify those which are in favour of power sharing and select the answer using the codes given below? Power sharing: A. reduces conflict among different communities B. decreases the possibility of arbitrariness C. delays decision making process D. accommodates diversities E. increases instability and divisiveness F. promotes people’s participation in government G. undermines the unity of a country (a) A B D F (b) A C E F (c) A B D G (d) B C D G 7. Consider the following statements about power sharing arrangements in Belgium and Sri Lanka. A. In Belgium, the Dutch-speaking majority people tried to impose their domination on the minority French-speaking community. B. In Sri Lanka, the policies of the government sought to ensure the dominance of the Sinhala-speaking majority. C. The Tamils in Sri Lanka demanded a federal arrangement of power sharing to protect their culture, language and equality of opportunity in education and jobs. D. The transformation of Belgium from unitary government to a federal one prevented a possible division of the country on Po w e r - sh a r i n g linguistic lines. Which of the statements given above are correct? (a) A, B, C and D (b) A, B and D (c) C and D (d) B, C and D 2024-25 11 Chapter 1.indd 11 08-04-2022 12:29:22  8. Match List I (forms of power sharing) with List II (forms of government) and select the correct answer using the codes given below in the lists: List I List II 1. Power shared among different A. Community government organs of government 2. Power shared among B. Separation of powers governments at different levels 3. Power shared by different social C. Coalition government groups 4. Power shared by two or more D. Federal government Exercises political parties 1 2 3 4 (a) D A B C (b) B C D A (c) B D A C (d) C D A B 9. Consider the following two statements on power sharing and select the answer using the codes given below: A. Power sharing is good for democracy. B. It helps to reduce the possibility of conflict between social groups. Which of these statements are true and false? (a) A is true but B is false (b) Both A and B are true (c) Both A and B are false (d) A is false but B is true D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s 2024-25 12 Chapter 1.indd 12 08-04-2022 12:29:22