Power-sharing Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary and key concepts from the 'Power-sharing' chapter, including case studies of Belgium and Sri Lanka and types of power sharing arrangements.

Ethnic

A social division based on shared culture where people believe in their common descent because of similarities of physical type, culture, or both.

Majoritarianism

A belief that the majority community should be able to rule a country in whichever way it wants, by disregarding the wishes and needs of the minority.

Flemish region

A region in Belgium where $59\,\%$ of the total population lives and speaks the Dutch language.

Wallonia region

A region in Belgium where $40\,\%$ of the people live and speak the French language.

Brussels

The capital city of Belgium where $80\,\%$ of people speak French and $20\,\%$ are Dutch-speaking.

Sinhala-speakers

The major social group in Sri Lanka making up $74\,\%$ of the population, mostly belonging to the Buddhist religion.

Sri Lankan Tamils

The native Tamil speakers of Sri Lanka who make up $13\,\%$ of the population and are concentrated in the north and east of the country.

Indian Tamils

Tamil speakers in Sri Lanka whose forefathers came from India as plantation workers during the colonial period.

Act of $1956$

An act passed in Sri Lanka to recognise Sinhala as the only official language, disregarding Tamil.

Civil war

A violent conflict between opposing groups within a country that becomes so intense that it appears like a war.

Tamil Eelam

A demand for an independent state in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka made by several political organisations by the $1980s$.

Community government

A third kind of government in Belgium elected by people belonging to one language community (Dutch, French, and German-speaking) regardless of where they live.

Prudential reasons

Reasons for power sharing based on careful calculation of gains and losses, emphasizing that power sharing will bring out better outcomes by reducing social conflict.

Moral reasons

Reasons for power sharing that emphasize the very act of power sharing as valuable and the 'very spirit of democracy'.

Horizontal distribution of power

The sharing of power among different organs of government, such as the legislature, executive, and judiciary, allowing them to exercise different powers at the same level.

System of checks and balances

An arrangement where each organ of government checks the others, ensuring no organ exercises unlimited power and resulting in a balance of power.

Federal government

A general government for the entire country that shares power with regional or provincial levels of government.

Vertical division of power

A division of powers involving higher and lower levels of government, such as Central, State, and local governments like municipalities and panchayats.

Coalition government

A government formed by an alliance of two or more political parties when no single party gets a clear majority in elections.