POWER SHARING

THE FOLLOWING PRESENTATION IS ON THE TOPIC OF POWER SHARING IN BELGUIM and SRI LANKA……………..

CONTENTS

• POWERSHARING OF BELGUIM AND SRILANKA .

• DIFFENT POLICIES OF THE GOVERNMENT IN BOTH COUNTRIES.

• DISTRIBUTION OF POWER

• MERITS AND DEMERITS

BELGIUM

Smaller than Haryana

Borders with France, Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg

SIZE AND ETHNIC COMPOSITION

COMMUNITIES AND REGIONS OF BELGIUM..

SHOWING THE LINGUISTIC DIVISION OF PEOPLE ..IN THE NATION

ETHECAL COMPOSITION OF NATION

• 40% speak French and live in the Walloon Region

59% speak Dutch and live in the Flemish region.

Walloon Region

Flemish Region

• 1% speak German and live in the Walloon Region

ETHECAL COMPOSITION OF BRUSSEL

• 80% in the capital speak French but they are minority in the country

• 20% in the capital speak Dutch but they are majority in the country

Power sharing desired …all over

REASONS FOR TENSION BETWEEN THE TWO COMMUNITIES

• The minority French were rich and powerful

• The majority Dutch got the benefit of economic development much later.

Between 1970 and 1993 the constitution was amended four times to accommodate social and cultural diversities.

This was done by sharing power as follows.There shall be equal representation from both

communities in the central council of ministers

The majority Dutch accepted this arrangement because they were minority in the nation

THE BELGIAN MODEL OF POWER SHARING

Advantages of The Belgian ModelThough complex, the model has worked well so far.It has avoided civic strife between the two communities.

The European Union chose to have its parliament at Brussels as Power Sharing was practiced successfully

SRI LANKA

About the same as Haryana

Just a few kms away off the southern coast of Tamil Nadu

INDEPENDENT IN 1948.SINHALAS DOMINATED

GOVERNMENT, by virtue of their majority, & adopted series of MAJORITARIAN

SRI LANKA…..SRILANKAN

TAMILS STARTED STRUGGLE FOR RECOGNITIONOF TAMIL AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

BY 1980~s several political organisation’s demanded for independent TAMIL EeLAM < state>..

The distruct between comminities turned civil war.

Loss of life , property and human resources was done by the war.

SOCIAL COMPOSITION

Sinhala Speakers: 74%. They are mostly Buddhists

Tamils Speakers: 18%. They are Hindus and Muslims

Sri Lankan Tamils

•Indian Tamils

Tamil Speakers

Indian Tamils

•They migrated to Sri Lanka as Plantation workers during the British Rule

Sri Lankan Tamils

•Tamil Natives

7% of the Population

•Consists Christians who speak both Sinhala and Tamil

MAJORITARIANISM IN SRI LANKA

After independence in 1948, Sri Lanka adopted a series of majoritarian measures to establish Sinhalese supremacy over the Tamils

In 1956, an Act was passed to recognise Sinhala as the only official language

MAJORITARIANISM IN SRI LANKAIn 1956 an Act was

passed which recognised Sinhala as the only official language.

Sinhala speakers were preferred both for university positions and Govt. jobs.

Sinhala

Lanka

MAJORITARIANISM IN SRI LANKAConstitution was

amended to protect and strengthen Sinhala Language.

EFFECT ON TAMILSThe Tamils felt isolated They thought that even the

constitution was against them.None of the Political parties ever

considered their needs.The Tamils formed groups,

organisations and parties to fight for rights

EFFECT ON TAMILSTheir demands for

recognition to their language and separate state with autonomous status were repeatedly neglected.

This made some groups like the LTTE to take violent actions.

THE CIVIL WARCivil war thus broke

out between the Tamils and the Sinhalas

Thousands of people on both the sides were killed

.

Thousands of Tamil families went out of the country as refugees

WHY IS POWER SHARING DESIRABLE?

Prudential Reasons1. It avoids conflicts between different social

groups. The absence of power sharing can result in division of the country.

2. Imposing will of the majority on the minority might appear to be an attractive option but it can be counter productive and can come in way of national integration as it happened in Sri Lanka

3. The tyranny of the majority brings ruins both to the minority and the majority (as in Sri Lanka)

Moral reason1. Power sharing is the very essence of

democracy. In an ideal democracy as many people as possible should get a chance to enjoy power.

2. People are affected by all the policies of democratic politics and they have to live with the effects. Hence citizens need share in power.

3. A legitimate govt. is one where citizens, through participation, acquire stake in power.

FORMS OF POWER SHARING

• Each of these organs is placed at the same level to exercise different powers

• None of them has unlimited power thus maintains balance.

• Each one of them keeps watch on the functioning of the other two.

• Hence it is called Check and Balance System

The Legislature The Executive The Judiciary

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.

Vertical Power Sharing

Central Govt.

State Govt.

Local Bodies

Power Sharing among different social groups

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

Power Sharing among Political parties, pressure groups and movements

• 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.

BY

JINO J

B