SUNRISE ENGLISH PRIVATE SCHOOL- ABUDHABI

Lesson :1 Grade:10

Name : Power sharing(Civics) Subject: Social Science

Story of Belgium

Belgium is a small country in Europe with a population of over 1 crore, about half the
population of Haryana. Of the country’s total population, 59% speaks Dutch language, 40%
of people speak French and the remaining 1% speak German. Look at the map below to
know the language variation of Belgium. The minority French-speaking community was
rich and powerful so they got the benefit of economic development and education. This
created tensions between the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking communities during
the 1950s and 1960s.

Accommodation in Belgium

In Belgium, the government handled the community difference very well. Between 1970
and 1993, Belgian leaders amended their constitution four times and came up with a new
model to run the government.
Here are some of the elements of the Belgian model.

1. Constitution prescribes that the number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers

shall be equal in the Central Government. Some special laws require the support of
the majority of members from each linguistic group. Thus, no single community can
make decisions unilaterally.
2. The state governments are not subordinate to the Central Government.
3. Brussels has a separate government in which both communities have equal
representation.
4. 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.

The Belgium model was very complicated but it helped to avoid civic strife between the
two major communities.

Story of Sri Lanka

Now, let’s take the situation of another country, Sri Lanka. It is an island nation having a
population of 2 crores, about the same as in Haryana. Sri Lanka has a diverse population.
The major social groups are the Sinhala-speakers (74%) and the Tamil-speakers (18%).
Among Tamils, there are two subgroups, “Sri Lankan Tamils” and “Indian Tamils”. You
can see the map below to know the population distribution of different communities of
Sri Lanka.
In Sri Lanka, the Sinhala community enjoyed the bigger majority and imposed its will on
the entire country.

Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka emerged as an independent country in 1948. The Sinhala community was in the
majority so they had formed the government. They also followed preferential policies that
favoured Sinhala applicants for university positions and government jobs. These measures
taken by the government gradually increased the feeling of alienation among the Sri
Lankan Tamils. Sri Lankan Tamils felt that constitution and government policies denied
them equal political rights, discriminated against them in getting jobs and other
opportunities and ignored their interests. Due to which the relationship between the
Sinhala and Tamil communities become poor. 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 was repeatedly
denied by the government. The distrust between the two communities turned into
widespread conflict and 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 ended in 2009 and caused a
terrible setback to the social, cultural and economic life of the country.

What have you learned from the Stories of Belgium and Sri Lanka?

 Both countries are democracies but they dealt differently with the concept of
power sharing.
 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. This
resulted in mutually acceptable arrangements for sharing power.
 Sri Lanka shows that, if a majority community wants to force its dominance over
others and refuses to share power, it can undermine the unity of the country.

Why is power sharing desirable?

You will find the answer to this question in the points below.

1. Power sharing is good because it helps to reduce the possibility of conflict between
social groups.
2. The second reason is that, a democratic rule involves sharing power with those
affected by its exercise, and who have to live with its effects. People have a right to
be consulted on how they are to be governed.
Let us call the first set of reasons Prudential and the second moral. The prudential reasons
stress that power sharing will bring out better outcomes, whereas the moral reasons
emphasise the act of power sharing as valuable.

Form of Power Sharing

Most of you must think that Sharing power = dividing power = weakening the country.
The similar thing was believed in the past. It was assumed that all the power of a
government must reside in one person or group of persons located at one place.
Otherwise, it would be very difficult to make quick decisions and to enforce them. But
these notions have changed with the emergence of democracy. In a democracy, people
rule themselves through institutions of self-government. Everyone has a voice in the
shaping of public policies. Therefore, in a democratic country, political power should be
distributed among citizens.

In modern democracies, power sharing can take many forms, as mentioned below:

1. Power is shared among different organs of government, such as the legislature,

executive and judiciary. This is called horizontal distribution of power because it
allows different organs of government placed at the same level to exercise
different powers. Such separation ensures that none of the organs can exercise
unlimited power. Each organ checks the others. 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 country and governments at the provincial or regional
level which is called federal government.
3. Power may also be shared among different social groups such as the religious and
linguistic groups. ‘Community government’ in Belgium is a good example of this
arrangement. This method is used to give minority communities a fair share in
power.
4. Power sharing arrangements can also be seen in the way political parties, pressure
groups and movements control or influence those in power. When two or more
parties form an alliance to contest elections and if they get elected, they form a
coalition government and thus share power.