CIVICS

CH – 1
POWER SHARING
PREPARED BY: BINAL PATEL
(TGT-SS)
 Topics of Chapter
01 Meaning – Power 04 Power Sharing is
Sharing Desirable
02 Belgium
05 Forms of Power Sharing
03 Sri Lanka
 Overview
✓ 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.
 01. What is Power Sharing?
❖ Power sharing is a system of governance where power and
responsibilities are divided among different groups, levels, and
organs of society.
❖ Power sharing prevents any single group from having exclusive
power.
❖ It ensures better governance.
❖ It strengthens the voice of minorities and makes them feel
included.
❖ It accommodates differences while preventing any majority group
from abusing its power.
 02. Belgium
✓ Belgium is a small country
in Europe, smaller in area
than the state of Haryana.
✓ It has borders with France,
✓ the Netherlands, Germany
and Luxembourg.
✓ It has a population of
✓ a little over one crore, about
half the population of
Haryana.
✓ The ethnic composition of
this small country is very
complex.
▪ The minority French-speaking community was relatively
rich and powerful.
▪ This was resented by the Dutch-speaking community who got
the benefit of economic development and education much
later.
▪ This led to tensions between the Dutch speaking and French-
speaking communities during the 1950s and 1960s.
▪ The tension between the two communities was more acute in
Brussels.
→ Brussels presented a special problem: the Dutch-
speaking people constituted a majority in the country, but a
minority in the capital.
 ACCOMODATION IN BELGIUM
• The Belgian leaders took a different path. They
recognised the existence of regional differences and
cultural diversities.
• Between 1970 and 1993, they amended their constitution
four times so as to work out an arrangement that would
enable everyone to live together within the same
country.
• The arrangement they worked out is different from any
other country and is very innovative.
 03. Sri Lanka
✓ Sri Lanka is an island
nation, just a few kilometres
off the southern coast of
Tamil Nadu.
✓ It has about two crore people,
about the same as in
Haryana.
✓ Like other nations in the
South Asia region, Sri Lanka
has a diverse population.
 Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka emerged as an independent country in 1948.
• The leaders of the Sinhala community sought to secure
dominance over government by virtue of their majority.
• As a result, the democratically elected government
adopted a series of majoritarian measures to establish
Sinhala supremacy.
• In 1956, an Act was passed.
A belief that the majority community should be able
to rule a country in whichever way it wants, by
disregarding the wishes and needs of the minority.
 Act of 1956, Sri Lanka
• Sinhala as the only official language

• The governments followed preferential policies

• Foster Buddhism.
 Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka
• All these government measures, coming one after the other,
gradually increased the feeling of alienation among the Sri
Lankan Tamils.
• They felt that none of the major political parties led by the
Buddhist Sinhala leaders was sensitive to their language and
culture.
• They felt that the constitution and government policies denied
them equal political rights, discriminated against them in
getting jobs and other opportunities and ignored their interests.
• As a result, the relations between the Sinhala and Tamil
communities strained over time.
 Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka
• The Sri Lankan Tamils launched parties and struggles for the recognition of
Tamil as an official language, for regional autonomy and equality of
opportunity in securing education and jobs.
• But their demand for more autonomy to provinces populated by the Tamils
was repeatedly denied. By 1980s, several political organisations were formed
demanding an independent Tamil Eelam (state) in northern and eastern parts
of Sri Lanka.
• The distrust between the two communities turned into widespread conflict. It
soon turned into a civil war. As a result thousands of people of both the
communities have been killed.
• Many families were forced to leave the country as refugees and many more lost
their livelihoods. The civil war has caused a terrible setback to the social,
cultural and economic life of the country. It ended in 2009.
04. Why power sharing is desirable?
05. FORMS OF POWER SHARING
Horizontal Power Sharing
✓ This is the sharing of power among the different organs of
government.
✓ In this type of power-sharing arrangement, different organs
of government, placed at the same level, exercise different
powers.
✓ Such a separation ensures that none of the organs can
exercise unlimited power, thereby putting a check on each
other.
✓ For example, power is shared among the Executive, the
Legislature, and the Judiciary.
Vertical Power Sharing
✓ This is a system of power-sharing among governments at
different levels.
✓ The Constitution lays down the powers of different levels of
government.
✓ For example, there is a general government for the entire
country and governments at provincial or regional levels.
✓ In India, we refer to this as the Central Government, State
Governments, Municipalities, and Gram Panchayats.
Among Different Social Groups
✓ The distribution of power among
different social groups such as the
religious or linguistic groups is practiced
to avoid cultural conflicts and ensures
harmony among these groups.
✓ Constitutional and legal arrangements to
empower weaker sections in many
countries are represented in the
legislature and administrations.
✓ Example: Community Government in
Belgium
 Among Political Parties, Pressure
Groups & Movements
▪ Power sharing arrangements can also be seen in the way political parties, pressure groups and
movements control or influence those in power.
▪ In a democracy, the citizens must have freedom to choose among various contenders for power.
In contemporary democracies, this takes the form of competition among different parties.
▪ Such competition ensures that power does not remain in one hand. In the long run, power is
shared among different political parties that represent different ideologies and social groups.
▪ Sometimes this kind of sharing can be direct, when two or more parties form an alliance to
contest elections.
▪ If their alliance is elected, they form a coalition government and thus share power.
▪ In a democracy, we find interest groups, such as those of traders, businessmen, industrialists,
farmers and industrial workers.
▪ They also will have a share in governmental power, either through participation in
governmental committees or bringing influence on the decision-making process.