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Consociationalism is a form of government involving guaranteed group representation, and is often suggested for managing conflict in deeply divided societies.

Consociationalism was discussed in academic terms by the political scientist Arend Lijphart. Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems Arend d'Angremond Lijphart (born 17 August 1936, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands) is a world renowned Political scientist specializing However, Lijphart has stated that he had "merely discovered what political practitioners had repeatedly – and independently of both academic experts and one another – invented years earlier". [1] John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary trace consociationalism back to 1917, when it was first employed in the Netherlands. John McGarry (born 1957 is a political scientist from Northern Ireland. Brendan O'Leary (born 19 March 1958 is an Irish political scientist, who is Lauder Professor of Political Science and Director of the Penn Program in Ethnic Conflict The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands [2] Indeed, Lijphart draws heavily on the experience of the Netherlands in developing his argument in favour of the consociational approach to ethnic conflict regulation. The Netherlands, as a consociational state, was between 1857 and 1967 divided into four non-territorial pillars: Calvinist, Catholic, socialist and liberal (although until 1917 there was a first past the post electoral system rather than a consociational one). Pillarisation ( verzuiling in Dutch, pilarisation in French) is a term used to describe the denominational segregation of Dutch Calvinism (sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology) is a theological system and an approach to the Catholic is an Adjective derived from the Greek adjective '' / 'katholikos' meaning "whole" or "complete". Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution The plurality voting system is a Single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member A voting system allows voters to choose between options often in an Election where candidates are selected for public office. In their heyday, each comprised tightly-organised groups, schools, universities, hospitals and newspapers, all divided along a pillarised social structure. The theory, according to Lijphart, focuses on the role of social elites, their agreement and co-operation, as the key to a stable democracy.

The goals of consociationalism are governmental stability, the survival of the power-sharing arrangements, the survival of democracy and the avoidance of violence. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system Violence is the exertion of force so as to injure or abuse The word is used broadly to describe the destructive action of natural phenomena like Storms and Earthquakes When consociationalism is organised along religious confessional lines, it is known as confessionalism, as is the case in Lebanon. Confessionalism is a System of government that distributes political and institutional power proportionally among religious communities Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية

Contents

Characteristics

Lijphart identifies four key characteristics of consociational democracies:[3]

Favourable conditions

Lijphart also identifies a number of 'favourable conditions' under which consociationalism is likely to be successful:[3]

Advantages of consociationalism

In a consociational state, all groups, including minorities, are represented on the political and economic stage. Supporters of consociationalism argue that it is a more realistic option in deeply divided societies than integrationist approaches to conflict resolution. Racial integration, or simply integration includes Desegregation (the process of ending systematic Racial segregation) The term "conflict resolution" refers to a range of processes aimed at alleviating or eliminating sources of conflict [4] It has been credited with supporting successful and non-violent transitions to democracy in countries such as South Africa. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa

Criticisms

Brian Barry

Brian Barry has questioned the nature of the divisions that exist in the countries that Lijphart considers to be 'classic cases' of consociational democracies. Brian Barry (born January 13th 1936 is a contemporary moral and political Philosopher. For example, he makes the case that in the Swiss example, "political parties cross-cut cleavages in the society and provide a picture of remarkable consensus rather than highly structured conflict of goals". [5] In the case of the Netherlands, he argues that "the whole cause of the disagreement was the feeling of some Dutchman. . . that it mattered what all the inhabitants of the country believed. Demands for policies aimed at producing religious or secular uniformity presuppose a concern. . . for the state of grace of one’s fellow citizens". He contrasts this to the case of a society marked by conflict, in this case Northern Ireland, where he argues that "the inhabitants…have never shown much worry about the prospects of the adherents of the other religion going to hell". Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of [6] Barry concludes that in the Dutch case, consociationalism is tautological and argues that "the relevance of the 'consociational' model for other divided societies is much more doubtful than is commonly supposed". In Propositional logic, a tautology (from the Greek word ταυτολογία is a Propositional formula that is true under any possible valuation [7]

Rinus van Schendelen

Van Schendelen has argued that Lijphart uses evidence selectively. Pillarisation was "seriously weakening," even in the 1950s, cross-denominational co-operation was increasing, and formerly coherent political sub-cultures were dissolving. Pillarisation ( verzuiling in Dutch, pilarisation in French) is a term used to describe the denominational segregation of Dutch The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive He argued that elites in the Netherlands were not motivated by preferences derived from the general interest, but rather by self-interest. They formed coalitions not to forge consociational negotiation between segments but to improve their parties' respective power. He argued that the Netherlands was "stable" in that it had few protests or riots, but that it was so before consociationalism, and that it was not stable from the standpoint of government turnover. He questioned the extent to which the Netherlands, or indeed any country labelled a consociational system, could be called a democracy, and whether calling a consociational country a democracy isn’t somehow ruled out by definition. He believed that Lijphart suffered severe problems of rigor when identifying whether particular divisions were cleavages, whether particular cleavages were segmental, and whether particular cleavages were cross-cutting. [8]

Lustick on hegemonic control

Ian Lustick has argued that academics lack an alternative 'control' approach for explaining stability in deeply divided societies and that this has resulted in the empirical overextension of consociational models. Ian Steven Lustick (born 1949 is an American political scientist and specialist on the modern history and politics of the Middle East. [9] Lustick argues that Lijphart has "an impressionistic methodological posture, flexible rules for coding data, and an indefatigable, rhetorically seductive commitment to promoting consociationalism as a widely applicable principle of political engineering"[10], that results in him applying consociational theory to case studies that it does not fit. Furthermore, Lustick states that "Lijphart's definition of 'accommodation'. . . includes the elaborately specified claim that issues dividing polarized blocs are settled by leaders convinced of the need for settlement". [11]

Other criticisms

Critics point out that consociationalism is dangerous in a system of differing antagonistic ideologies, generally conservatism and communism. An antagonist (from Greek ανταγωνιστής - antagonistes, "opponent competitor rival" is a character or An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics Conservatism is a term used to describe political philosophies that favour Tradition, where tradition refers to various religious cultural or nationally defined Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based They state that specific conditions must exist for three or more groups to develop a multi-party system with strong leaders. This philosophy is dominated by elites, with those masses that are sidelined with the elites having less to lose if war breaks out. Consociationalism cannot be imperially applied. For example, it does not effectively apply to Austria. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Critics also point to the failure of this line of reasoning in Lebanon, a country that reverted back to civil war. Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية It only truly applies in Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, and not in more deeply divided societies. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those If one of three groups gets half plus one of the vote, then the other groups are in perpetual opposition, which is largely incompatible with consociationalism.

Consociationalism focuses on diverging identities such as ethnicity instead of integrating identities such as class, institutionalizing and entrenching the former. Furthermore, it relies on rival co-operation, which is inherently unstable. It focuses on intra-state relations and neglects relations with other states. Donald Horowitz argues that consociationalism can lead to the reification of ethnic divisions, since "grand coalitions are unlikely, because of the dynamics of intraethnic competition. Donald L Horowitz is James B Duke Professor of Law and Political Science at Duke Law School and Duke University in Durham The very act of forming a multiethnic coalition generates intraethnic competition – flanking – if it does not already exist". [12]

Consociationalism assumes that each group is cohesive and has strong leadership. Although the minority can block decisions, this requires 100 per cent agreement. Rights are given to communities rather than individuals, leading to over-representation of some individuals in society and under-representation of others. Grand coalitions are unlikely to happen due to the dynamics of ethnic competition. Each group seeks more power for itself. Consociationalists are criticized for focusing too much on the set up of institutions and not enough on transitional issues which go beyond such institutions. Finally, it is claimed that consociational institutions promote sectarianism and entrench existing identities. Sectarianism is Bigotry, Discrimination, Prejudice or Hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions

Examples of consociational arrangements

The political systems of a number of countries operate on a consociational basis, including, Belgium, Lebanon, The Netherlands (from 1917 until 1967), Switzerland and Nigeria. Politics of Belgium takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic Constitutional monarchy, whereby the Lebanon is a Parliamentary democracy within the overall framework of confessionalism, in which the highest offices are proportionately reserved for representatives The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary Representative democracy, a Constitutional monarchy and a Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. Politics of Switzerland takes place in the framework of a multi-party federal parliamentary democratic Republic, whereby the Politics of Nigeria take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic Republic, whereby the President of Nigeria Some academics have also argued that the European Union resembles a consociational democracy. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in [13][14]

Additionally, a number of peace agreements are consociational, including the Dayton Agreement that ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is described as a "classic example of consociational settlement" by Sumantra Bose[15] and "an ideal-typical consociational democracy" by Roberto Belloni,[16] and the Belfast Agreement of 1998 in Northern Ireland (and its subsequent reinforcement with 2006's St Andrews Agreement), which Brendan O'Leary describes as "power-sharing plus". The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 The War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, commonly known as the Bosnian War, was an international armed conflict that took place between March 1992 and November 1995 Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Latin script: Bosna i Hercegovina, Cyrillic script: Босна и Херцеговина is a country on the Balkan Sumantra Bose is Professor of International and Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics. The Agreement, most often referred to as the Belfast Agreement (Comhaontú Bhéal Feirste Belfast Greeance or the Good Friday Agreement (Comhaontú Aoine an The St Andrews Agreement (or Comhaontú Chill Rímhinn in Irish) was an agreement between the British and Irish Governments and the political [17]

References

  1. ^ Arend Lijphart (2004) 'Constitutional design for divided societies', Journal of Democracy 15(2), pp. The Journal of Democracy is an Academic journal founded in 1990 and an official publication of the National Endowment for Democracy. 96-109, p. 97
  2. ^ John McGarry and Brendan O’Leary (1993) ‘Introduction: The macro-political regulation of ethnic conflict’, in John McGarry and Brendan O’Leary (eds. ) The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation: Case Studies of Protracted Ethnic Conflicts, London: Routledge, pp. 1-40
  3. ^ a b Arend Lijphart (1977) Democracy in Plural Societies: A Comparative Exploration, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
  4. ^ John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary (2006) 'Consociational theory, Northern Ireland's conflict, and its agreement 2: What critics of consociation can learn from Northern Ireland', Government and Opposition 41(2), pp. 249-277
  5. ^ Brian Barry (1979a) 'Political accommodation and consociational democracy', British Journal of Political Science 5(4), pp. 477-505, p. 501
  6. ^ Brian Barry (1979b) 'The consociational model and its dangers', European Journal of Political Research 3(4), pp. 393-412, p. 407
  7. ^ Brian Barry (1979a), p. 481
  8. ^ M. C. P. M. van Schendelen (1984) 'The Views of Arend Lijphart and Collected Criticisms', Acta Politica 19(1), pp. 19-49
  9. ^ Ian Lustick (1979) 'Stability in deeply divided societies: Consociationalism versus control', World Politics 31(3), pp. 325-344
  10. ^ Ian Lustick (1997) 'Lijphart, Lakatos, and consociationalism', World Politics 50(1), pp. 88-117, p. 117
  11. ^ Ian Lustick (1997), p. 100
  12. ^ Donald Horowitz (1985) Ethnic Groups in Conflict, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, p. 575
  13. ^ Gabel, Matthew J. (1998). "The endurance of supranational governance: A consociational interpretation of the European Union". Comparative Politics 30 (4): 463-475.  
  14. ^ Bogaards, Matthijs; Crepaz, Markus M. L. (2002). "Consociational interpretations of the European Union". European Union Politics 3 (3): 357-381.  
  15. ^ Sumantra Bose (2002) Bosnia After Dayton: Nationalist Partition and International Intervention, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 216
  16. ^ Roberto Belloni (2004) 'Peacebuilding and consociational electoral engineering in Bosnia and Herzegovina', International Peacekeeping 11(2), pp. 334-353, p. 336
  17. ^ Brendan O’Leary (1999) 'The 1998 British-Irish Agreement: Power-sharing plus', Scottish Affairs 26, pp. 14-35

See also

Conflict management refers to the long-term management of intractable Conflicts It is the label for the variety of ways by which people handle grievances — standing up for Political scientists define a consociational state as a State which has major internal divisions along ethnic religious or linguistic lines with none of the divisions The term minority rights embodies two separate concepts first normal individual Rights as applied to members of racial Ethnic, class religious linguistic or

Dictionary

consociationalism

-noun

  1. Political consociation
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