Power-sharing

Schools of thought

Power-sharing is a central component in two "rival" schools of thought, promoting distinct strategies for ethnic conflict management in divided societies: consociationalism and centripetalism. Building on distinct theoretical assumptions, each theory formulates distinct policy prescriptions. Power-sharing is one of the component of the "institutional packages" prescribed by each approach. And each approach favours different types of power-sharing, guided by distinct logics of ethnic conflict management. Consociationalism favours a logic of polarisation, where each ethnic groups receives autonomous representation and the leaders of each ethnic groups ally in a post-electoral grand coalition to negotiate solutions ethnic disputes. Centripetalism favours a logic of moderation, where moderate ethnic parties ally in a pre-electoral coalition of the moderate middle to try to exclude ethnic extremists from holding power. These distinct strategies lead to distinct institutional prescriptions, with consociationalism favouring proportional voting and centripetalism preferring the alternative vote.