location (your state, India, outside India). Find out the cause of each of these conflicts. How many of these are related to power sharing disputes? Which of these conflicts could be resolved by working out power sharing arrangements?
European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium 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 community – Dutch, French and German-speaking – no matter where they live. This government has the power regarding cultural, educational and language-related issues.
You might find the Belgian model very complicated. It indeed is very complicated, even for people living in Belgium. But these arrangements have worked well so far. They helped to avoid civic 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, Brussels was chosen as its headquarters. Annette studies in a Dutch medium school in the northern region of Belgium. Many French-speaking students in her school want the medium of instruction to be French. Selvi studies in a school in the northern region of Sri Lanka.
All the students in her school are Tamil-speaking and they want the medium of instruction to be Tamil. If the parents of Annette and Selvi were to approach respective governments to realise the desire of the child who is more likely to succeed? And why? Why power sharing is desirable?
Thus, two different sets of reasons can be given in favour of power sharing. Firstly, power sharing is good because it helps to reduce the possibility of conflict between social groups. Since social conflict often leads to violence and political instability, power sharing is a good way to ensure the stability of political order. Imposing the will of majority community over others may look like an attractive option in the short run, but in the long run it undermines the unity of the nation.
Tyranny of the majority is not just oppressive for