Power sharing

Key definitions

Power sharing is defined as political arrangements in which power is shared through different organs of the government
Ethnic comes from the Greek word Ethos and it can mean groups of people in specific areas, under different races, cultures etc.
Majoritarianism is the belief that the majority should rule the country without taking in the beliefs of the minority
Sinhala is the official language of the sri Lankas
Civil war is a conflict between a nation itself, it becomes so gruel it is known as a civil war
Unilateral is an agenda that supports anything one sided

Points about Belgium

Belgium is a small country in Europe
It shares its borders with Luxemburg, Netherlands , France and Germany
It has a population of about 1 crore
The French people live in the Walloon area and are 40 Percent the population of the country
The Dutch speaking people live in the Flemish region and are 59 percent of the population
The German speaking population are 1 percent of the country's population
In brussels, 80 percent of the people are French speaking while the rest 20 are Dutch speaking.
Belgium amended Their constitution four times between 1970-1993

The French community was relatively rich and powerful, The Dutch speaking community didnt like this as they got economic development and education much later on, This led to tensions between these communities in 1950-1960

About Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an Island nation just a few kilometers of the tamil coast.

It has about 2 crore people residing in it.

The ethnic groups are as follows

74 percent of the population are Sinhalese, and they speak Sinhala
18 percent of the population are Tamil speakers, in this, 13 percent are called Sri Lankan Tamils, who are Tamil Natives of the country. The rest 5 Percent are Indian Tamils, whose forefathers came from India to work during the colonial period.
The rest of the Population are Muslims.

Sri Lanka Emerged as an Independent nation in 1948

The leaders of the Sinhalese community wanted to assert dominance over government by virtue of their majority

The Elected leaders Took majoritarianism to establish Sinhala Supremacy

In 1956 an act was passed to recognize Sinhalese as the official language, disregarding Tamil.

The government also preferred Sinhalese applicants for job positions at universities and government jobs. A new constitution stated that the state was protect and foster Buddhism

The Tamils felt alienated

Sri Lankan Tamils launched struggles and parties for their recognition of Tamil as an official language, for equality in job picking .
Their continuous requests were denied
By 1980 several organizations were formed demanding a separate state for the Tamil speakers
The distrust between the two communities soon turned into a civil war

Here are some ways belgium handled the ethnic diversity better than sri lanka

The constitutions said that all French and Dutch speaking people shall be equal before the law, the central government
Many powers of the central government has been given to the state government. The state governments are not subordinate to the central governments.
Belgium has a third community, known as the community government and this government is elected by the one language speaking communities. This government has power regarding the social educational and language related issues

Power sharing is desirable for the following reasons

Power sharing helps to reduce conflict between social groups it also helps to keep corruption at bay.

Power sharing is a good way to ensure stability of political order

Forms of power sharing