2. With this we will resume the tour of democracy. In a democracy all
power does not rest with any one organ of the state. An intelligent
sharing of power among legislature, executive and judiciary is very
important to the design of a democracy. In this we will carry this
idea of power sharing forward. We start with two stories from
Belgium and Sri Lanka. Both these are about how democracies
handle demands for power sharing. This 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.
MADE BY RAZA,SHARJEEL & SOHAIB
3. Belgium is a small country in Europe,smaller in area than the state of Haryana. It has borders with
Netherlands, France and Germany. 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. Of the
country’s total population, 59 percent lives in the Flemish region and speaks Dutch language.
Another 40 percent people live in the Wallonia region and speak French. Remaining 1 percent of the
Belgians speak German. In the capital city Brussels, 80 per cent people speak French while 20 per cent
are Dutch-speaking.
Sri Lanka is an island nation, just a few kilometers off the southern coast of Tamil Nadu. It has about
2 crore people, about the same as in Haryana. Like other nations in the South Asia region, Sri Lanka
has a diverse population. The major social groups are the Sinhala-speakers (74 percent) and the
Tamil-speakers (18 percent). Among Tamils there are two sub-groups. Tamil natives of the country
are called “sri lankan tamils” The rest were indian tamils.
MADE BY RAZA,SHARJEEL & SOHAIB
4. 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.
(1)In 1956, an Act was passed to recognize Sinhala as the only 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.
(2)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 were 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 andMADE BY RAZA,SHARJEEL & SOHAIB
7. FORMATION OF COMMUNITY 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
MADE BY RAZA,SHARJEEL & SOHAIB
8. I. Firstly, power sharing is good because it helps to reduce
the possibility of conflict between social groups. Since
social conflict often leads to violence and political
instability, power sharing is a good way to ensure the
stability of political order. Imposing the will of majority
community over others in the long run it undermines the
unity of the nation.
II.deeper reason why power sharing is good for democracies.
Power sharing is the very spirit of democracy. 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. A legitimate government is one where
citizens, through participation, acquire a stake in theMADE BY RAZA,SHARJEEL & SOHAIB
10. 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.
MADEBYRAZA,SHARJEEL&SOHAIB
Central Govt.
State Govt.
Local Bodies
11. 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.
SCs
STs
Women
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12. MADE BY RAZA,SHARJEEL & SOHAIB
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 and get policies
framed in their favour.
