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Power-Sharing and Consociational Theory

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  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Brighid Brooks Kelly

    1. Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore, USA

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  • Provides a carefully constructed, large scale statistical analysis of the influence of consociational components on stability
  • Includes a qualitative treatment of seven places that have experienced consociation, which facilitates comprehension of the role of consociational components
  • Offers insights to readers interested in how any divided society can best achieve long-term stability

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. Introduction

    • Brighid Brooks Kelly
    Pages 1-17

  3. What Is Consociation?

    • Brighid Brooks Kelly
    Pages 19-51

  4. A Quantitative Assessment of Consociation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 53-53
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    2. The Plural Societies for Which Consociation Is Prescribed

      • Brighid Brooks Kelly
      Pages 55-72

    3. Empirically Depicting Consociation’s Role

      • Brighid Brooks Kelly
      Pages 73-113

    4. Quantitative Results

      • Brighid Brooks Kelly
      Pages 115-140

    5. Comparison of this Project’s Quantitative Findings with Others’ Evaluations of Consociation’s Effects

      • Brighid Brooks Kelly
      Pages 141-182

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 357-389
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Keywords

About this book

Fifty years ago, academics and policymakers throughout the world agreed that it was impossible for certain sets of historically antagonistic groups to coexist peacefully on a long-term basis. This book examines the system of consociation, which was identified by Arend Lijphart and ended that pessimistic consensus. Lijphart’s specific observations concerning the impact of consociation are assessed quantitatively and qualitatively, facilitated through careful operationalization of his descriptions of consociation’s four components: grand coalition, minority veto, proportionality, and segmental autonomy. Insights derived from a dataset representing the experiences of eighty-eight countries are examined further through case study analysis of the seven societies most often discussed in relation to consociation: Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, South Africa, and Switzerland. The components of consociation are found to promote lasting peace in divided societies most successfully when combined with additional incentives for the encouragement of cross-cutting cleavages and shared loyalties.

Reviews

“This landmark study by Brighid Brooks Kelly richly deserves to endure. It is the first global empirical evaluation, accurate and precise, of Arend Lijphart's original account of consociation and consociational theory, rather than a quick-fix proxy assessment of what he is said to have implied. Brooks Kelly combines sophisticated quantitative analysis with systematic and well-informed case studies that reinforce her judgments. Her methods and conclusions, both empirical and prescriptive, should be read by all who care about the theory and practice of power-sharing in deeply divided places.” (Brendan O’Leary, Lauder Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, US; World Leading Researcher and Visiting Professor, Queen’s University Belfast, UK; and former Senior Advisor on Power-sharing to the Mediation Support Unit of the United Nations)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore, USA

    Brighid Brooks Kelly

About the author

Brighid Brooks Kelly is Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania’s Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, USA. Her work was awarded the Basil Chubb Prize, following its submission to Trinity College Dublin.  

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