Belgium accommodated linguistic tensions between Dutch and French communities through constitutional reforms that established power-sharing arrangements. This included equal representation of both communities in government. In contrast, Sri Lanka failed to share power between the Sinhala Buddhist majority and Tamil Hindu minority, denying Tamils' rights and sparking civil war as distrust increased. Power-sharing is desirable to reduce conflict between social groups and reflects democratic values of inclusive governance.

1. 1. Story of Belgium
2. Story of Sri Lanka
3. Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka
4. Accomodation in Belgium
5. Why Power Sharing is desirable?
6. Forms of Power-Sharing

2.  Belgium is a small country in Europe.
 It has borders with Netherlands, France and
Germany.
 59% in the Flemish region speaks Dutch.
 Another 40% people live in Wallonia region and
speaks French.
 Remaining 1% of the Belgians speak Germany.
 In the capital city Brussels, 80% people speak
French while 20% are Dutch – speaking.
 In the country majority was of Dutch people but in
the capital city majority was of French people.
 Because of this, there was lot of tension in Belgium.

3.  The minority French – speaking community
was relatively rich and powerful.
 There was lot of cultural and religious
differences between these two communities.
 The tension between two communities was
acuter in Brussels.

4.  Belgium recognized 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.

5.  Here are some of the elements of the Belgian model:
 a. Constitution prescribes that the number of Dutch and
French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the central
government.
b. Many powers of the central government have been given
to states government of the two of the regions of the
country.
c. Brussels has separated government in which both the
communities have equal representation.
d. Apart from the central and state government, there is a
third kind of government. This is community government.
 In Belgium, the leaders have realized that the unity of the
country is possible only by respecting the feelings and
interests of different communities and regions.
 And also, after this Brussels has been made the HQ of EU
i.e. European Union.

6.  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”.
 7% are Christians who speaks both the language.
 Tamils are mainly Hindus and Muslims.
 And Sinhala speaking people are Buddhists.

7.  In 1956, an Act was passed to recognize Sinhala
as the only official language, thus disregarding
Tamil.
 Govt. favoured Sinhala speakers in jobs and
university admissions.
 A new constitution stipulated that the state
shall protect and foster Buddhism.
 All these measures, coming one after the other,
gradually increased the feeling of alienation
among the Sri Lankan Tamils.

8.  It increased the feeling of alienation.
 They felt that the govt. and major parties don’t
care about their language and culture.
 They felt that the govt. and constitution denied
their basic rights like right to equality.
 They also felt that they are being discriminated.

9.  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.
 Tamils demanded that they should have a separate country
in the northeast Sri Lanka.
 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.

10.  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.

11.  Power sharing is good because it helps to reduce
the possibility of conflict between social groups.
 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.
 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.

12.  In modern democracies, power sharing can take
many forms, as mentioned below:
 Power is shared among different organs of
government, such as the legislature, executive and
judiciary.
 Power can be shared among governments at
different levels.
 Power may also be shared among different social
groups .
 Power sharing arrangements can also be seen in
the way political parties, pressure groups and
movements.