Power-sharing
Belgium and Sri Lanka
Compare how Belgium and Sri Lanka handled demands for power sharing.
The big question. Many people think: sharing power = dividing power = weakening the country. This chapter tests that idea with two true stories, Belgium and Sri Lanka. Both are democracies with mixed populations. They chose opposite paths.
Belgium: who lives where. A small European country, smaller than Haryana, with a little over one crore people.
- 59 per cent live in the Flemish region and speak Dutch.
- 40 per cent live in Wallonia and speak French.
- 1 per cent speak German.
The twist: in the capital, Brussels, 80 per cent speak French and only 20 per cent Dutch. So the Dutch were more numerous in Belgium, yet fewer in Brussels. The French-speakers were richer and more powerful, and the Dutch-speakers, who got education and development later, resented it. Tension grew in the 1950s and 1960s, worst of all in Brussels.
Sri Lanka: who lives where. An island just off Tamil Nadu, with about two crore people.
- Sinhala-speakers: 74 per cent, mostly Buddhist.
- Tamil-speakers: 18 per cent, mostly Hindu or Muslim. They are two groups:
- Sri Lankan Tamils (13 per cent): natives of the country, living mainly in the north and east;
- Indian Tamils: their ancestors were brought from India in colonial times to work on plantations.
- About 7 per cent are Christians, both Tamil and Sinhala.
Sri Lanka chose majoritarianism. Majoritarianism is the belief that the majority can rule however it wants, ignoring the minority. After independence in 1948, Sinhala leaders used their numbers to take control:
- an Act of 1956 made Sinhala the only official language;
- government policies favoured Sinhala applicants for university places and government jobs (imagine scoring higher than someone and still losing the seat to them);
- a new constitution said the state would protect and foster Buddhism.
The result: civil war. Sri Lankan Tamils felt left out: no major party cared about their language and culture, and they were denied equal rights, jobs and chances. They asked for Tamil as an official language, more autonomy for Tamil areas and equal opportunities, but were refused. By the 1980s, groups were demanding an independent Tamil Eelam in the north and east. Distrust became a civil war: thousands killed, many families forced to flee as refugees. It ended in 2009.
Belgium chose accommodation. Between 1970 and 1993 Belgium changed its constitution four times, so everyone could live together in one country:
- equal numbers of Dutch and French-speaking ministers in the central government; some special laws need a majority from each language group, so neither side can decide alone;
- many central powers went to the state governments of the two regions, which are not below the central government;
- Brussels has its own government with equal representation. First the Dutch gave a little (equal ministers at the centre), then the French did (equal seats in Brussels);
- a third kind of government, the community government, is elected by each language community (Dutch, French, German) wherever its people live. It handles culture, education and language.
It is complicated, but it worked: no civil strife, no split. Brussels even became the headquarters of the European Union.
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