After reading this chapter, three students drew different conclusions. Which of these do you agree with and why? Give your reasons in about 50 words.
Thomman - Power sharing is necessary only in societies which have religious, linguistic or ethnic divisions.
Mattai - Power sharing is suited only for big countries that have regional divisions.
Ousep - Every society needs some form of power sharing even if they are small or do not have social divisions.
The conclusion drawn by Ouseph is correct. Every society needs some form of power-sharing even if it is small or does not have social divisions because power-sharing helps to reduce the possibility of conflicts among individuals too. For example, there may be a difference of opinion among the members of a joint family. Such differences may be resolved if responsibilities and powers are divided among the members of the family. Similar is the case in societies and governments. Thus there should be power-sharing in small or big societies or countries.
If there are different communities in a country they should try to accommodate each other as has been done in Belgium – where the French-speaking people accepted equal representation in Brussels because the Dutch-speaking community has accepted equal representation in the central government.