POWER SHARING NOTES, CLASS 10 CBSE

Power Sharing

Belgium

-> Gerographical position : Small country in Europe, bordered by the Netherlands, France and Germany.

-> Area and Population : Smaller in area than the Indian state of Haryana.

Population- a little over one crore, half of the state of Haryana.

 
Ethnic Composition : 59% live in Flemish region - speak Dutch, 40% live in Wallonia region - speak French, 1% speak German

 
Capital : Brussels-80% speak French, 20% Speak Dutch.

 
-> Important Point : In Brussels, the Dutch-speaking people are in a minority which is the opposite of the rest of the country, where they are in a majority.

 
The minority population of French-speaking people was richer than the Dutch-speaking people.
The majority community were given benefits much later. This led to tension between the two communities in the
1950s and 1960s. Tension was more acute in the capital city of Brussels.

Sri Lanka

-> Geographical Position : A small island in Asia, off the southern coast of Tamil Nadu.

 
-> Population : Same as Haryana's. (about two crore people.)

 
-> Ethnic Composition : 74% Sinhalese-speaking people 18% Tamil-speaking people, 13% are natives of Sri Lanka, known as Sri Lankan Tamils. The rest are called Tamil Lankans who are descendants of plantation
workers, who came from India during the colonial period.

 
Religion : Most of the Sinhala-speaking people are Buddhists. Most of the Tamils are Hindus or Muslims.
Christians constitute 79/0 of the population and they belong to both Sinhala and Tamil communities.

 

Majoritarianism : Meaning

Majoritarianism is a political philosophy which asserts that a majority of the population (by language, religion
etc.) has the right to take the decision affecting the society. This means submission of the minority group to the
majority group for all the decisions affecting their lives. It results in the preferential policies favoring the majority
group in University positions and government jobs and other opportunities and interest. There majoritarianism
is denying the minority equal rights and opportunities.

• Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka

-> Sri Lanka became independent in 1948 soon after its independence the democratically elected govemment adopted a series of Majoritarian measures to establish Sinhala supremacy.

-> In 1956, an Act was passed to recognise Sinhala as the only official language disregarding Tamil.

-> Sinhala applicants were favoured for university positions and government job.

-> The new constitution gave special protection and foster Buddhism.

-> Due to these policies of Sinhalas, the Sri Lankan Tamils felt that leaders were insensitive to their language
and culture. Government policies were not providing them equal political rights.

-> In Sri Lanka due to majoritarianism, Tamils were discriminated in getting jobs and other opportunities.

-> Now, the Sri tankan Tamils formed parties and demanded regional autonomy, recognition of tamil as an official language and equality of opportunity in securing education and job. These demands were repeatedly rejected. By 1980s several political organisations were formed demanding an independent Tamil Eelam(state) in northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.

-> The distrust between the two communities turned into widespread conflict. conflict Soon turned into a civil war

war. The civil war caused a terrible set back to the social, cultural and economic life of the country. It ended in 2009.

Accommodation in Belgium

 
The Belgian leaders recognised the existence of regional differences and cultural diversities. Between 1970 and 1993, they amended constitution four times so as to work out an arrangement that would enable
everyone to live together within the same country. some of the elements of the Belgian model are:

-> Constitution prescribes that the number of Dutch and French Speaking ministers shall be equal in the central goverment.some special laws require the support of majority of members from each linguistic
group. Thus, no single community can make decisions unilaterally.

-> Many Powers of the central government have been given to state government of the two reasons of the country. The state government are not subordinate to the central government. Thus after Constitutional amendment, Unitary form of government in Belgium changes into Federal form of govemment.

 
-> Brussels (Capital of Belgium) has a separate government in which both the communities have equal representation. The French-speaking people accepted equal representation in Brussels because the Dutch-speaking community has accepted equal representation in the central government.

-> 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 group like Dutch, French and German Speaking and has the power regarding cultural, educational and language related issues.

 Community Government -

A community government is one in which different social groups are given

the power to handle the affairs related to their communities. They are expected to work jointly for the benefit of the common masses.

-> These arrangements have worked well so far. They helped to avoid civil strife between the two major communities and a possible division of the country on linguistic lines. When many countries of Europe
came together to form the European Union, Brussel was chosen as its headquarters.

 

• Why Power Sharing is Desirable?

Every social group needs a share in the governance to ensure that their interests would be taken care Of'
sharing is desirable on two grounds :

 

Two reasons of Power Sharing:

• Prudential Reason

This reason is based on careful calculation of gains and losses occurring due to the adoption of a particular style of governance

-> Power Sharing reduces the possibility of conflict between the social groups..

-> Due to Power Sharing there is stability of the political order, the rule by the majority is oppressive for the minority who might feel neglected and ignored when their interests are not taken care.

 
-> Power Sharing also helps in resolving disputes instead of fighting over whom power sharing joint excercise of power,

-> Power Sharing is more constructive.

Moral Reason

-> Power sharing is the essence of democracy. A democratic rule involves giving voice and representation to all the people who would be affected by the policies and the rules made. People have a
right to be consulted on how they are to be governed.

-> A legitimate government is one where citizen through participation acquire a stake in the system.

-> Moral reason emphasises the very act of power sharing as valuable.

Forms of Power Sharing

 
Power Sharing in Different Organs of Government : Power is shared among different organs of govemment,
such as the legislature, executive and judiciary. This type of distribution can be called the horizontal distribution
of power. This type of power sharing allows different organs of government placed at the same level to exercise different powers.

Such a separation ensures that unlimited power is not vested in any organ of the government. This ensures a balance of power among various institutions. The executive enjoys official power but is answerable to the legislature. The legislature has the right to make or amend laws but it is answerable to the people. The judiciary
is independent and ensures that the law of the land is obeyed by legislature and executive.

• Power Sharing at different levels : 

Power can be shared among governments at different levels. Usually a central governments is responsible for the entire nation and state governments are responsible for different units

of the federation. There is clear cut demarcation on subjects which come under the union government and those which come under the state government. However, there are some subjects which come under the concurrent list, i.e. both state and central governments exercise power on such subjects.

•Power sharing among social groups : 

Power may also be shared among different social groups. In a diverse country; like India; there are various social, linguistic and caste groups and power is shared among each group.
For example; people from the minority communities, OBCs, and SC & ST are given reservation so that there could be adequate representation for them in the government machinery.

•Power sharing among various political parties, pressure and movements groups :

Power sharing among various political parties is more apparent for most of the people. Usually the largest political party or the largest political coalition becomes the ruling party. The other parties form the opposition. While opposition is not in power, it is responsible for seeing to it that the ruling party functions as per the wishes of the people.

Heads of various committees comes from various political parties; which is another way of sharing power among different political parties.

 
Pressure groups also get their share in power. For example; the trade unions, ASSOCHAM, students' union, etc. get some power by certain mechanisms. Representatives of these associations become part of many decision making bodies and thus enjoy their share of power.