IMPERIAL HERITAGE SCHOOL, SECTOR-102, GURUGRAM

SESSION 2024-25
GRADE-X
SUBJECT- POLITICAL SCIENCE

Chapter-1: Power Sharing Handouts:1

Name: Date:

Learning outcomes:

 Define Power sharing.

 Identify and locate Belgium and Sri Lanka.
 outline the policy of Majoritarianism followed in Sri Lanka.
 outline and appraise the elements of Belgium.
 Power sharing model.
 contrast the differing power sharing.
 arrangements in Belgium and Sri Lanka.
 summarize the different power sharing.
 arrangements in modern democracies

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. The 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 this, 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.
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?

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 must 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.
. Prudential Reason: Power sharing helps in reducing the conflict between various social groups. The
prudential reasons stress that power sharing will bring out better outcomes Hence, power sharing is
necessary for maintaining social harmony and peace. In India, seats are reserved for the weaker sections of
society. Example: reservation of seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. This allows the weaker
sections also to participate in the running of the Government.
Moral Reason: It upholds the spirit of democracy. The moral reasons emphasise the act of power sharing as
valuable. In a truly democratic setup, the citizens too have a stake in governance. In India, the citizens can
come together to debate and criticize the policies and decisions of the government. This, in turn, puts
pressure on the government to rethink its policies and reconsider its decisions.

Form of Power Sharing

Sharing power = dividing power = weakening the country. A 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.