Lijphart, “Constitutional Design for Divided Societies PDF

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PSC 10001 with Professor Mitchell article summary...

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Deep societal divisions pose a grave problem for democracy Problem of ethnic and other deep divisions is greater in countries that are not yet democratic nor fully democratic Successful establishment of democratic government in divided societies requires 2 key elements: power sharing and group autonomy Consociational democracy - power-sharing democracy

Critics of Power Sharing ● Brian Barry - minorities remain loyal, moderate, and constructive ● Donald Horowitz’s - design various electoral mechanisms that would encourage the election of moderate representatives One Size Fits All? 1. Legislative electoral system - Proportional representation, majoritarian, intermediate systems 2. Guidelines within PR - selection of a PR system 3. Parliamentary or presidential government - Choice should be based on the different systems’ relative potential for power sharing in the executive a. Offers the optimal setting for forming a broad sharing executive b. No need for presidential elections if a PR system is chosen 4. Power sharing in the executive a. Belgian model - Allows for power sharing without mandating a grand coalition of all significant parties and therefore without eliminating significant partisan opposition in parliament b. Allows for slight deviation from strictly proportional power sharing by giving some overrepresentation to the smaller groups - desirable in countries where an ethnic majority faces one of more ethnic minority groups 5. Cabinet stability - Constructive vote of no confidence 6. Selecting the head of State - Head of state and head of government or only one 7. Federalism and decentralization a. Excellent way to provide autonomy for these groups b. Federation be relatively decentralized 8. Non Territorial autonomy - educational autonomy 9. Power sharing beyond the cabinet and parliament - instituting ethnic or religious quotas Other Issues ● Start out with the modal patterns of the world's established democracies ● Constitutional provision to limit the number of referenda...