3. What is Power Sharing?
Why Power Sharing?
• Meaning of power sharing
• Sharing of power among different people, parties, social ,
religious and linguistic groups that usually happens in
democracy or
• Sharing of powers and responsibilities among different
organs and levels of government.
• It is a strategy to resolve disputes over exercise of power.
• A powerful approach to unite diversities by making them a
party to the decision making process.
4. The Ethnic composition of
Belgium
•1. 59 per cent lives in the Flemish
region and speaks Dutch language.
•2. 40 per cent people live in the
Wallonia region and speak French.
•3. 1% of the Belgians speak German.
5. •4. In the capital city Brussels,
80 per cent people speak French while
20 per cent are Dutch speaking.
•5. The minority French-speaking
community was relatively rich and
powerful. But the majority Dutch-
speaking community was poor and
weak.
6.
7. The Ethnic composition of Sri
Lanka
•1. Sri Lanka is an island nation, and
has about two crore people.
• 2. The major social groups are the
Sinhala-speakers (74 per cent) and the
Tamil-speakers (18 per cent).
8. • 3. AmongTamils there are two subgroups.
Tamil natives of the country are called ‘Sri
LankanTamils’(13%).The rest, whose
forefathers came from India as plantation
workers during colonial period, are called
‘IndianTamils’(5%).
•4. Most of the Sinhala speaking people are
Buddhist, while most of theTamils are
Hindus or Muslims.
•5. There are about 7 per cent Christians,
who are bothTamil and Sinhala.
9.
10. What is Majoritarianism? How
was it practiced in Sri Lanka?
•1. Majoritarianism is a belief in which the
majority community should be able to
rule a country in whichever way it wants,
by disregarding the wishes and needs of
the minority.
11. •2. In 1956, an Act was passed to
•recognise Sinhala as the only official
language.
•3. The governments followed
preferential policies that favoured
Sinhala applicants for university
positions and government jobs.
•4. A new constitution recognised
Buddhism as the national religion.
12. •5. Sri LankanTamils 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 and freedoms.
13.
14. Accommodation arrangements in Belgium
•1. Belgium amended its constitution four
times so as to work out an arrangement that
would enable everyone to live together
within the same country.
• 2. 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 majority of members from each
linguistic group.
15. •3. Many powers of the central
government have been given to state
governments of the two regions of the
country.The state governments are not
subordinate to the Central Government.
•4. Brussels has a separate government
in which both the communities have
equal representation.
16. • 5. Apart from the Central and the
State Government, there is a third kind
of government called community
government.This ‘community
government’ is elected by people
belonging to one language community.
•This government has the power
regarding cultural, educational and
language-related issues.
17. What do we learn from these two
stories of Belgium and Sri Lanka?
•1. 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.
18. • 2. This realisation resulted in mutually
acceptable arrangements for sharing
power.
•3. In Sri Lanka the majority community
wants to force its dominance over others
and refuses to share power.
•4. This resulted in long civil war and
heavy loss of men and material.
19. Why is power sharing desirable?
•1. Prudential Reason: Power sharing is
good because it helps to reduce the
possibility of conflict between social
groups.
• 2. Since social conflict often leads to
violence and political instability. Power
sharing is a good way to ensure the
stability of political order.
20. • 3. Moral Reason: Power sharing is the
very spirit of democracy.A democratic
rule involves sharing power with those
who live with its effects.
• 4. In a democracy people have a right
to be consulted on how they are to be
governed. A legitimate government is
one where citizens participate in the
system.
21. Forms of power sharing
•1. Power is shared among different
organs of government, such as the
legislature, executive and judiciary.This
is called horizontal distribution of power.
•It allows different organs of government
to exercise different powers.This
arrangement is called a system of checks
and balances.
22. •2. Power can be shared among
governments at different levels – a
central government for the entire
country and state governments at the
regional level. Division of powers
involving higher and lower levels of
government is called vertical division of
power.
23. •3. Power can also be shared among
different social groups such as the
religious and linguistic groups.
• 4. Power can also be shared by
different political parties such as
national parties share power with
regional parties in coalition government.
24. • 5. Power can also be shared by
different pressure groups and
movements such as associations of
traders, businessmen, industrialists,
farmers and industrial workers either
through participation in governmental
committees or bringing influence on the
decision-making process.
25. Horizontal distribution of power
from the Indian context
•1. Power is shared among different
organs of government, such as the
legislature, executive and judiciary.
This is called horizontal distribution of
power.
26. • 2. It allows different organs of
government placed at the same level to
exercise different powers and separation
ensures that none of the organs can
exercise unlimited power.
•3. In India ministers and government
officials exercise power and they are
responsible to the Parliament or State
Assemblies.
27. • 4. Similarly the judges are appointed
by the executive, they can check the
functioning of executive or laws made by
the legislatures.
• 5. Each organ checks the other.This
results in a balance of power among
various institutions.This arrangement is
called a system of checks and balances.
28. Vertical Division of power OR Federal
division of power from the Indian context.
•1. Power can be shared among
governments at different levels – a
central government for the entire
country and state governments at the
regional level. Such a central
government for the entire country is
usually called federal government.
29. • 2. In India, we refer to it as the Central
or Union Government.The governments
at the regional level are called State
Governments.
•3. In India the constitution clearly lays
down the powers of different levels of
government.This is called federal
division of power.
30. •4. The same principle is extended to
levels of government lower than the
State government, such as the
municipality and panchayat.
•5. This type of division of powers
involving higher and lower levels of
government is called vertical division of
power.
31. Power sharing between different
social groups from the Indian context
•1. Power can be shared among
different social groups such as the
religious and linguistic groups.
•2. In India there are constitutional and
legal arrangements whereby socially
weaker sections are represented in the
legislatures and administration.
32. • 3. The system of ‘reserved
constituencies’ in assemblies and the
parliament of our country is meant to
give space in the government and
administration to diverse social groups.
•4. This method is used to give minority
communities a fair share in power and a
way of accommodating social diversities.
33. Power sharing between different
Political parties and pressure groups
from the Indian context
•1. Power can also be shared by different
political parties, pressure groups and
movements.
34. • 2. In India the citizens have freedom
to choose among various contenders for
power. This takes the form of
competition among different parties.
Such competition ensures that power
does not remain in one hand.
35. •3. 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 and form a
coalition government.
