Consociationalism

Consociationalism (/kənˌsʃiˈʃənəlɪzəm/ kən-SOH-shee-AY-shən-əl-iz-əm) is a form of democratic power sharing.[1] Political scientists define a consociational state as one which has major internal divisions along ethnic, religious, or linguistic lines, but which remains stable due to consultation among the elites of these groups. Consociational states are often contrasted with states with majoritarian electoral systems.

The goals of consociationalism are governmental stability, the survival of the power-sharing arrangements, the survival of democracy, and the avoidance of violence. When consociationalism is organised along religious confessional lines, as in Lebanon, it is known as confessionalism.

Consociationalism is sometimes seen as analogous to corporatism.[2][3] Some scholars consider consociationalism a form of corporatism. Others claim that economic corporatism was designed to regulate class conflict, while consociationalism developed on the basis of reconciling societal fragmentation along ethnic and religious lines.[4]

Concurrent majority can be a precursor to consociationalism. A consociational democracy differs from consensus democracy (e.g. in Switzerland), in that consociational democracy represents a consensus of representatives with minority veto, while consensus democracy requires consensus across the electorate.[5]

The idea has received significant criticism in its applicability to democratic political systems, especially with regard to power-sharing.

  1. ^ O'Leary, Brendan (2005). "Debating consociational politics: Normative and explanatory arguments". In Noel, Sid JR (ed.). From Power Sharing to Democracy: Post-Conflict Institutions in Ethnically Divided Societies. Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press. pp. 3–43. ISBN 0-7735-2948-9.
  2. ^ McRae, Kenneth D. (September 1979). "Comment: Federation, Consociation, Corporatism—An Addendum to Arend Lijphart". Canadian Journal of Political Science. 12 (3): 517–522 at 520. doi:10.1017/S0008423900051726. ISSN 0008-4239. S2CID 154995368. federalism, consociationalism, and neo-corporatism can be viewed as alternative institutional devices for alleviating strain or overload on central governments and for distributing part of the burden among other sectors of the political system.
  3. ^ du Toit, Pierre (July 1987). "Consociational Democracy and Bargaining Power". Comparative Politics. 19 (4): 419–430 at 425. doi:10.2307/421815. JSTOR 421815. While consociational democracy applies to joint decision making among societal groups, neither of which has a dominant power position, corporatism (especially 'state' corporatism) describes a decision making model where the state is the dominant participant in joint decision making. Both models, however, describe the decision making as characterized by consensus and bargaining.
  4. ^ Anke Hassel (2006). Wage setting, Social Pacts and the Euro: A New Role for the State. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press. p. 281. ISBN 9789053569191. JSTOR j.ctt46mxdx. (Open access)
  5. ^ Howe, Philip J. "The United States as a Plural Society: Towards a Consociational Solution?." Swiss Political Science Review 25.4 (2019): 476-497.

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