Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Consociationalism
open-in-new
<p>Consociationalism is a form of democratic <a href="/facts/Power_sharing/ExyxykRc">power sharing</a>. <a href="/facts/Political_science/Gqy5EoRX">Political scientists</a> define a consociational <a href="/facts/State_(polity)/7ggBzTSk">state</a> as one which has major internal divisions along ethnic, religious, or linguistic lines, but which remains stable due to consultation among the <a href="/facts/Elite/8ceFK8LD">elites</a> of these groups. Consociational states are often contrasted with states with <a href="/facts/Majoritarian/PqC3DpJD">majoritarian electoral systems</a>. </p><p>The goals of consociationalism are governmental stability, the survival of the power-sharing arrangements, the survival of <a href="/facts/Democracy/3tLdVS1C">democracy</a>, and the avoidance of <a href="/facts/Violence/eJlCdt82">violence</a>. When consociationalism is organised along religious confessional lines, as in <a href="/facts/Lebanon/2dReTXyp">Lebanon</a>, it is known as <a href="/facts/Confessionalism_(politics)/0Nsrpu8N">confessionalism</a>. </p><p>Consociationalism is sometimes seen as analogous to <a href="/facts/Corporatism/rWbTRgK0">corporatism</a>. Some scholars consider consociationalism a form of corporatism. Others claim that economic corporatism was designed to regulate <a href="/facts/Class_conflict/HUQIUXTj">class conflict</a>, while consociationalism developed on the basis of reconciling societal fragmentation along ethnic and religious lines. </p><p><a href="/facts/Concurrent_majority/D9NsdScm">Concurrent majority</a> can be a precursor to consociationalism. A consociational democracy differs from <a href="/facts/Consensus_democracy/uMLKuW7x">consensus democracy</a> (e.g. in <a href="/facts/Switzerland/LcGuxeTe">Switzerland</a>), in that consociational democracy represents a consensus of representatives with minority veto, while consensus democracy requires consensus across the electorate. </p><p>The idea has received significant criticism in its applicability to democratic political systems, especially with regard to power-sharing. </p>