POWER SHARING

THE FOLLOWING PRESENTATION IS ON

THE TOPIC OF POWER SHARING
IN BELGUIM and SRI LANKA..

CONTENTS
POWERSHARING
OF BELGUIM AND
SRILANKA .
DIFFENT POLICIES
OF THE
GOVERNMENT IN
BOTH COUNTRIES.

DISTRIBUTION OF
POWER
MERITS AND
DEMERITS

BELGIUM
SIZE AND ETHNIC COMPOSITION
Smaller than

Haryana
Borders with France,
Netherlands,
Germany and
Luxembourg

COMMUNITIES
AND REGIONS
OF BELGIUM..
SHOWING THE
LINGUISTIC
DIVISION OF
PEOPLE ..IN THE
NATION

ETHECAL COMPOSITION OF
Flemish Region
NATION
40% speak French and live
in the Walloon Region

59% speak Dutch and

live in the Flemish

region.

1% speak German
and live in the
Walloon Region

Walloon Region

ETHECAL COMPOSITION OF BRUSSEL

80% in the capital speak French but they

are minority in the country
20% in the capital speak Dutch but they
are majority in the country

Power s

haring d
esired
a
ll
over

REASONS FOR TENSION BETWEEN THE

TWO COMMUNITIES
The minority French
were rich and
powerful
The majority Dutch
got the benefit of
economic
development much
later.

THE BELGIAN MODEL OF

POWER SHARING
Between 1970 and 1993 the constitution was

amended four times to accommodate social

and cultural diversities.
This was done by sharing power as follows.
There shall be equal representation from both
communities in the central council of
ministers
The majority Dutch accepted this
arrangement because they were minority in
the nation

Advantages of The Belgian Model

The European Union chose to

have its parliament at Brussels as
Power Sharing was practiced
successfully
Though complex, the model

has worked well so far.

It has avoided civic strife
between the two communities.

SRI LANKA
About the same as

Haryana
Just a few kms away off the
southern coast of Tamil
Nadu
INDEPENDENT IN 1948.
SINHALAS DOMINATED
GOVERNMENT, by virtue of
their majority, & adopted
series of MAJORITARIAN

SRI LANKA..
SRILANKAN TAMILS

STARTED STRUGGLE
FOR RECOGNITIONOF
TAMIL AS OFFICIAL
LANGUAGE
The distruct between
BY 1980~s several
comminities turned
political
civil war.
organisations
Loss of life , property
demanded for
and human resources
independent TAMIL
was done by the war.
EeLAM < state>..

SOCIAL COMPOSITION
Sinhala Speakers: 74%.

They are mostly Buddhists

Tamils Speakers: 18%.
They are Hindus and
Muslims

Indian Tamils

MAJORITARIANISM IN SRI
LANKA
After independence in

1948, Sri Lanka adopted

a series of majoritarian
measures to establish
Sinhalese supremacy
over the Tamils
In 1956, an Act was
passed to recognise
Sinhala as the only
official language

MAJORITARIANISM IN SRI
LANKA
In 1956 an Act was

passed which
recognised Sinhala
as the only official
language.
Sinhala speakers
were preferred both
for university
positions and Govt.
jobs.

S
in

hal
a

a
n
k
a

MAJORITARIANISM IN SRI
LANKA
Constitution was

amended to protect
and strengthen
Sinhala Language.

EFFECT ON TAMILS
The Tamils felt isolated
They thought that even the

constitution was against them.

None of the Political parties ever
considered their needs.
The Tamils formed groups,
organisations and parties to fight
for rights

EFFECT ON TAMILS

Their demands for

recognition to their
language and
separate state with
autonomous status
were repeatedly
neglected.
This made some
groups like the LTTE
to take violent
actions.

THE CIVIL WAR

Civil war thus broke

out between the

Tamils and the
Sinhalas

Thousands of people
on both the sides
were killed
.

Thousands of Tamil
families went out of
the country as
refugees

WHY IS POWER SHARING

DESIRABLE?
Prudential Reasons

It avoids conflicts between different social

groups. The absence of power sharing can
result in division of the country.
2. Imposing will of the majority on the minority
might appear to be an attractive option but it
can be counter productive and can come in
way of national integration as it happened in
Sri Lanka
3. The tyranny of the majority brings ruins both
to the minority and the majority (as in Sri
Lanka)
1.

Moral reason
Power sharing is the very essence of
democracy. In an ideal democracy as many
people as possible should get a chance to
enjoy power.
2. People are affected by all the policies of
democratic politics and they have to live
with the effects. Hence citizens need share
in power.
3. A legitimate govt. is one where citizens,
through participation, acquire stake in
power.
1.

FORMS OF POWER SHARING

The

Each of these organs is placed at the

same level to exercise different
powers
None of them has unlimited power
thus maintains balance.
Each one of them keeps watch on the
functioning of the other two.
Hence it is called Check and Balance
System

Vertical Power
Sharing

Central
State
Local
Bodies
Govt.
Govt.

The Central Govt. is set up for the whole nation.

The state/provincial govt. is set up for each
provinces/states.
The central govt. transfers/shares some of the powers
to/with the state govt. (as in Belgium)
In a big country like India, this type of two tier system
is not sufficient.
So we have the third tier the Local Self Govt.
Both the Central and State govt. have transferred
power and resources to the Local bodies.

Power Sharing amongSCs

different social groups
Socially weaker sections

also have to have share in

power.
Community govt. in Belgium
is one example for this type
of power sharing.
In India, it is done by way of
reservation.
Constituencies and seats
are reserved for women,
SCs and STs.
Thus power is shared among
different social groups.

Power Sharing among Political

parties, pressure groups and
movements
No political party enjoys power for ever.
It is for the people to decide who should
be in power.
With the emergence of coalition govt.
many parties share power at the same
time.
Pressure groups and movements have
share in power by exerting pressure on
the govt.
They exert pressure by various means

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