Title: CONSOCIATIONAL DEMOCRACY
1CONSOCIATIONAL DEMOCRACY
Lecture 16
Politics and Governance in Netherlands, Belgium,
Austria, Switzerland
2Objectives
- knowledge of
- the consociational model
- its empirical fit
- further understanding of the span of variation in
liberal-democratic politics and governance - Concepts consociational politics elite
accommodation proporz sub-cultural autonomy
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4Introduction
- Consociational Democracy- one of the few models
explaining WE politics and government - Originally set up by Lijphart, The Politics of
Accommodation (1968) - Aim to explain functioning - governance in
small countries with deep cleavages
5Issues
- Pluralism governments allow groups to articulate
interests but no special favours are given - Corporatism key groups or organizations have
institutionalized roles and are built in the
political process - Consociationalism the inclusion of deeply
divided groups in the political framework
6Features of Consociationalism
- Interest aggregation in a state with major
internal divisions (ethnic, religious,
linguistic) - Institutional features of
- asymmetric bicameralism
- balanced executive and legislative power,
decentralization - proportional representation
- constitutionally guaranteed rights for minorities
- judicial review
- Nowadays often seen as important part of
consensus democracy (corporatism)
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8Typologies
- Almonds typology of political systems (1956)
three types of Western democratic systems - Anglo-american (US, UK) a homogenous secular
political culture and a highly differentiated
role structure for governmental agencies,
parties, interest groups and media high degree
of stability and effectiveness - Continental European (France, Germany, Italy)
fragmented political culture, with separate
sub-cultures unstable - Scandinavian and Low Countries in between the
two models differentiated role structure for
subcultures stable and efficient
9The problem
- General assumption in liberal-democratic theory
- cross-cutting cleavages ensure stability of a
polity - overlapping memberships force tolerance and
mediation - BUT In Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and
Switzerland cleavages are rather parallel,
creating segmented groups - Cleavage structure based on religion, class /or
language established distinct communities - little contact to each other breeding ground for
hostility - So what explains the relative stability in
theses fragmented systems?
10The Netherlands
- Complex cleavage structure based on religion and
class - Catholic/protestant (Calvinist)
- Clerical/secular
- Middle class/working class
Four Pillars Verzuiling
catholic
calvinist
liberal
socialist
11Belgium
- Traditional cleavage structure based on religion
and class - Clerical (75 cath.)/1 prot./anti-clerical (20
agnost.) - Middle class/working class
- Key event Brabant revolution 1789
Three sub-cultures
French speaking
Flemish speaking
catholic
liberal
socialist
12Austria
- Bitter cleavages based on religion and class
persistent German nationalism - Gives rise to three Lager
- Catholic/middle-class
- Socialists/anti-clerical
- German nationalists
- Key experience civil war during 1930s and
dictatorship - Fear of recurrence after 1945 dominated Austrian
elite politics until mid-1960s
socialist
catholic
German nationalists
Three Lager
catholic
13Switzerland
- Deep seated cleavages based on language and
religion non-violent (but 1847)
Three nations
Languages German French Italian Romanesch
Protestant (55)
Catholic (45)
14Question
- How do these countries, where the cleavage
structure appears to have the capacity to cause
severe political confrontations even civil war
manage to operate as stable polities?
15Consociationalism and elites
- Elites play prominent role in consociational
politics - Elites learn from disasters caused by violent
cleavage struggle - Policies are a deliberate joint effort to
stabilize the system and avoid confrontation - Implemented through advisory councils and
committees - Dahrendorf a cartel of elites
16Consociational Democracy
Ljjphart Model I (1968)
- electorate elite
- 2 cleavages recognize political danger
- parallel cleavages committed to maintaining
the national state and democratic
politics - distinct communities transcend cleavages
- with group identities
-
- inter-group hostility accommodationist
political strategies - accept authority of group leaders government by
elite cartel
17Misfit of model I
- Belgium new cleavage pattern (language)
- Switzerland absence of civic unrest
- Austria opposition politics after 1966
- Netherlands depillarization after 1970s
18Ljjpharts Model II (1982)
-
- Why a second model?
- L.s reaction to misfit theoretical critique
- e.g. what if political elites were responsible
for creating the sub-cultures and hostility? - Contrary evidence (s.a.)
- The new model
- De-emphasised mass level
- Explanatory weight on elites
- Based on four principles of political method
19The four principles
- Grand coalition government
- General political willingness to cooperate
- Backed by elaborate system of advisory councils
and committees in which all parties participate - Sub-cultural political autonomy
- Culturally distinct groups allowed considerable
autonomy (e.g. religious teaching at school or in
local language) - Where divisions geographic, federal political
form proved to be most suitable - Proportionality proporz
- All public resources allocated in strict
proportion between the communities (i.e.
government funds, jobs, services) - Where communities are unequal in size, then
minority is given parity or to be
over-represented - Minority veto
- Minorities have veto over policy matters on vital
interests
20- Lijphart
- The essential characteristics of a
consociational democracy is not so much any
particular institutional arrangement as
overarching cooperation on the elite level with
the deliberative aim of counteracting
disintegrative tendencies in the system - The Politics of Accommodation (1968)
21- Dahl
- The possibility of violence and civil war always
lurks as a special danger in countries with
hostile sub-cultures and this danger undoubtedly
stimulates a search for alternative responses - Political Opposition in Western Democracies (1968)
22Consociational arrangements
Netherlands
- Bitter conflicts prior 1917 about suffrage and
religious education - 1917 Pacification Pact (universal suffrage,
proportional school funding) - Since 1917, Dutch parliament has had between 8-13
parties anything from four to eight party system - 1945-65 The politics of Verzuiling
- Most governments represented by 4party
coalitions - Proportional allocation of funds for communities
- Organizations for each of the communities
- No attempt to integrate communities
- Policy questions settled by negotiation between
elites and sub-cultures - elite crisis summits
- Social and Economic Council (15 each Socialists,
Catholics, employers and government)
23Consociational demise
Netherlands
- rapid depillarization after 1970s
- compulsory voting abolished
- religious parties formed CDA
- Church attendance dropped from 51 (1960s) to 17
(today) - Growth of protest parties (D66), aiming to
reduce elite domination of Dutch politics - Dominant form of government since mid-1970s
CDA-VVD or CDA-PvdA coalitions - Growth of independent media
- Dutch politics still very fragmented but in
fact three dominant and several minor parties - The end of consensus?
- assassination of Pim Fortuyn (2002) and van Gogh
(2004) - Issues with Islam
24Communities and Major Parties
- Netherlands verzuiling
- Catholic Catholic Peoples Party KVP
- Calvinist Christian Historical Union CHU
- Anti-Revolutionary Party ARP
- Socialist Labour Party PvdA
- Liberal (anti-clerical) Liberal Party VVD
- Belgium mondes
- Catholic Christian Peoples Party CVP
- Liberal (anti-clerical) Liberal Party PVV
- Socialist Socialist Party PSB
- Flemish Volksunie VU
- Wallon Wallon Rally
- French Francophone Democratic Front FDF
25Consociational arrangements
Belgium
- Prior to 1958, Belgian politics dominated by
religious issues - 1958 Schools Pact (public funding for all
schools) - mondes regional councils (Wallonia, Flanders,
and Brussels) - Community Councils (Flemish, French, and German)
- 1978 Pacte Communitaire
26Consociational demise
Belgium
- by late 1960s/early 1970s becoming clear that the
old cleavage pattern (religion and class) was
being replaced by a new cleavage pattern
(territorial-linguistic), which the traditional
parties failed to manage - Volksunie (1961) and Rassemblement Wallon
(1968) - Success of extreme right Vlaams Blok/Belang
- National parties split into french/dutch parts
around 1970 - Today politics dominated by language divide,
growing political distrust and constitutional
crisis - unitary -gt neo-federal state -gt federal state
27Belgium Regions and Communities
- Three regions
- Walloon Region
- Flemish Region
- Capital Region
- Three communities
- Flemish Community
- French Community
- German Community
- Merger of Flemish Region/Community
- Overlap of Flemish/French Community in Brussels
- German Community part of Wallonia
28Consociational arrangements
Austria
- Grand coalitions until 1966
- Main decision-making body Coalition committee
(top catholic and socialist leaders equally
represented) - Model for proporz (in all parts of society)
29Consociational demise
Austria
- after 1966, the post-war tradition of Grand
coalitions gave way to opposition politics (end
of strong proporz) - 1966-83 single party governments
- 1983-87 SPÖ/FPÖ coalition
- 1987-2000 Grand Coalition
- 2000-2006/07 ÖVP/FPÖ 2007- GC
- Lager structure weakening (50 still secured in
sub-culture) - Parity Commission (setting overall economic
strategy) still in place
30Communities and Major Parties
- Austria lager
- Catholics Peoples Party ÖVP
- Socialist (anti-clerical) Social Dem. Party SPÖ
- Nationalist/(liberal) Freedom Party FPÖ
- Switzerland cantons
- Catholics Christian Dem. Party CVP
- Socialist Social Dem. Party SPS
- Liberal Radical Dem. Party FDP
- Conservative Swiss Peoples Party SVP
31Consociational arrangements
Switzerland
- Oldest European federation (1848)
- Consociational arrangements in place before party
system emerged - 26 cantons (20 full 6 half)
- (Con-)federal state cantons centre of politics
- Party structure strongly federalised
- Federal council
- weak central government (federal council)
- multi-member executive (7 members from 4 parties
- 2221) - Zauberformel 1959-2003
- Switzerland absence of civic unrest suggests
interest clash on elite level only
32Assessment fit of Lijphart Models
- I sub-cultural communities national identity
inter-communal hostility elites - II grand coalitions political autonomy
proporz minority veto elites - NOT an exact fit to any of the countries but a
useful tool for simplification
33Summary consociationalism
- Important variation on liberal-democratic model
- Group of countries where cleavage structure has
impeded the nationalization of politics - Analysis of elite behaviour and conflict
- Analytic language