Class 10th political life by

Imtiyaz sir ( life leisure and

study)

Unit 1st Power sharing

Starting with the introduction to the

political science
What do we mean by political science
What we study in political science
Why do we study political science

Power

= Ability to influence the behaviour of others

Differentiate between power and authority
Power sharing is a practice in conflict
resolution in which different social groups
share political, economical , military powers
among themselves according to a agreed rule
 These groups can be
 1 . Ethnic groups
 2. Levels of govt.
 3. Organs of govt
 4. Social groups
 5. Political parties
 Forms of power sharing
 - Horizontal: Among organs of government
(e.g., legislature, executive, judiciary).e.g.
india
 - Vertical: Among different levels of
government (e.g., union, state, local).e.g.
USA
 - Social Groups: Among religious or
linguistic groups (e.g., Belgium’s
community government).
 - Political Parties: Shared among parties,
pressure groups, and movements.
 Terms you need to know
 Majoritarian: It is a belief that the majority
community should be able to rule a
country in whichever way it wants.
 Community Government: A type of
Government which is elected by people
belonging to one language community is
called community government.
 Prudential: It involves decision making
based on prudence, or on a careful
calculation of gains and losses.
 Checks and Balances: In this system, each
organ of the government checks the
others which results in a balance of power
among various institutions
 Reserved Constituencies: In this, the
constituencies are reserved in the
Assemblies and the Parliament for
minorities in order to give them a fair
share in powers.
 Coalition government: When the alliance
of two or more parties gets elected and
forms a government it is known as the
Coalition Government.
Why to study power sharing
In today’s word of diversity
What If we share power? = effects
What If we don’t share power ?=
effects
Case study of Belgium
Belgium is a European country with a
population of a little over one crore.
∆ In this country, the ethnic
composition is complex.
∆. Of the total population, 59 percent
lives in the Flemish region and speaks
the Dutch language.
∆> Another 40 percent people live in
the Wallonia region and speak French.
 ∆. Remaining one percent of the
Belgians speak German.

∆. In the capital city, Brussels, 80

percent people speak French while 20
percent are Dutch speaking.
∆. The French-speaking minority
community was relatively rich and
powerful.
∆. This made the Dutch-speaking
community angry.
∆. From the 1950s to 1960s, there were
tensions between the two communities
because of these differences.
Solution
From 1970 to 1993, the constitution of Belgian
was amended 4 times
= To workout an arrangement to avoid conflict
= Key components of the Belgian model are:
1. Central govt . : equal no. Of ministers of
Dutch and French, no single community
can take decision
2. State government: many powers of
central government were given to state
governments and were not subordinated
to central government
3. Brussels: separate govt was made at
capital city with equal no. Of
representatives
4. Community government: elected by the
people of definite linguistic community,
irrespective of where the live …..
+. To make laws on cultural, education
and language issues
Majoritarianism in srilanka
. Or
Ethnic conflict in srilanka
 1. Sri Lankan Tamils (13%) – Tamil locals
of the country
2. Indian Tamils (5%) –
3. Sinhala’s 74%
3. Sinhala-talking individuals are for the
most part Buddhists while the Tamil-
talking individuals were either Hindus or
Muslims.
4. There were even 7% Christians, who
are both Tamil and Sinhala.
Areas of conflict
= Sinhala’s sought to secure dominance over
govt. By virtue of their majority
1. In 1956 Sinhala only act was passed
2. Preferential policies for Sinhala
applicants for higher education and govt
jobs
3. In 1972 Buddhism was declared as
state religion
Impact
Tamils felt alienated
= threat to their language , culture and
religion.
Response
→. Srilankan Tamils launched political
parties and demanded
 1. Recognition of Tamil as an official
language
2. Regional autonomy
3. Equality of opportunity in education
and govt jobs
→ there demand was turned down
😆 in 1980 LTTE was formed demanded
independent Tamil Elam ( north and
eastern parts of srilanka )
→ turned in to a widespread conflict……
civil war
😴 Prabhakaran chief of LTTE was
arrested in 2009
Why power sharing is desirable
Two reasons
1. Prudential: involving and showing
care
≈ it reduces the possibility of conflict
between social groups
≈ political stability
≈it states that power sharing will bring
out better outcome
2. Moral : concerns with the principal of
right and wrong behaviour
∞ power sharing is the spirit of democracy
∞ people have right to consult how they
are to be governed
 Thanku
Case Study: Belgium