Abstract
An intense scholarly and public policy debate concerns the optimal design of institutions for new democracies, particularly those facing deep ethnic or cultural cleavages. This paper surveys the main contending models that have been advanced for ethnically diverse democracies – consociationalism, centripetalism and communalism – and examines the key components of each of those models. It then explores some aspects of their application, arguing that there is much more cross-over between the models than is commonly assumed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bermeo, B. (2003) Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times: The Citizenry and the Breakdown of Democracy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Downs, A. (1957) An Economic Theory of Democracy, New York: Harper and Row.
Duverger, M. (1954) Political Parties: Their Organization and Activity in the Modern State, New York: Wiley.
Furnivall, J.S. (1948) Colonial Policy and Practice: A Comparative Study of Burma and Netherlands India, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Haggard, S. and Kaufman, R. (1995) The Political Economy of Democratic Transitions, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Haggard, S. and Webb, S.B. (1992) Voting for Reform: Democracy, Political Liberalization and Economic Adjustment, New York: Oxford University Press.
Harris, P. and Reilly, B. (1998) Democracy and Deep-rooted Conflict: Options for Negotiators, Stockholm: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
Horowitz, D. (1985) Ethnic Groups in Conflict, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Horowitz, D. (1991) A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional Engineering in a Divided Society, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Huntington, S.P. (1991) The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Jarstad, A. (2008) ‘Power Sharing: Former Enemies in Joint Governments’, in A. Jarstad and T. Sisk (eds.) From War to Democracy: Dilemmas of Peacebuilding, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jarstad, A. and Sisk, T. (eds.) (2008) From War to Democracy: Dilemmas of Peacebuilding, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lijphart, A. (1977) Democracy in Plural Societies: A Comparative Exploration, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Lijphart, A. (1984) Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-one Countries, New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
Lijphart, A. (1985) ‘Power sharing in South Africa’, Berkeley CA: Policy Papers in International Affairs No. 24, Institute of International Studies, University of California.
Lijphart, A. (1990) ‘Electoral Systems, Party Systems and Conflict Management in Segmented Societies’, in R.A. Schreirer (ed.) Critical Choices for South Africa: An Agenda for the 1990s, Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
Lijphart, A. (1994) ‘Prospects for Power-sharing in the New South Africa’, in A. Reynolds (ed.) Election ’94 South Africa: The Campaigns, Results and Future Prospects, Claremont: David Phillip Publishers.
Lijphart, A. (1995) ‘Self-determination versus Pre-determination of Ethnic Minorities in Power-sharing Systems’, in W. Kymlicka (ed.) The Rights of Minority Cultures, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lijphart, A. (2004) ‘Constitutional design for divided societies’, Journal of Democracy 15 (2): 96–109.
Norris, P. (2004) Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Powell, G.B. (2000) Elections as Instruments of Democracy: Majoritarian and Proportional Visions, New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
Reilly, B. (2001) Democracy in Divided Societies: Electoral Engineering for Conflict Management, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Reilly, B. (2004) ‘Elections in Post-conflict Societies’, in E. Newman and R. Rich (eds.) The UN Role in Promoting Democracy: Between Ideals and Reality, Tokyo: United Nations University Press.
Reilly, B. (2006) Democracy and Diversity: Political Engineering for Conflict Management, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Reilly, B. (2007) ‘Political engineering in the Asia-Pacific’, Journal of Democracy 18 (1): 58–72.
Reilly, B. and Nordlund, P. (eds.) (2008) Political Parties in Conflict-prone Societies: Regulation, Engineering and Democratic Development, Tokyo: United Nations University Press.
Reilly, B. and Reynolds, A. (1999) Electoral Systems and Conflict in Divided Societies, Washington, DC: National Research Council.
Roeder, P.G. and Rothchild, D. (2005) Sustainable Peace: Power and Democracy after Civil Wars, Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press.
Sisk, T. (1995) Democratization in South Africa: The Elusive Social Contract, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Tan, E. (2005) ‘Multiracialism engineered: The limits of electoral and spatial integration in Singapore’, Ethnopolitics 4 (4): 413–428.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reilly, B. Institutional Designs for Diverse Democracies: Consociationalism, Centripetalism and Communalism Compared. Eur Polit Sci 11, 259–270 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/eps.2011.36
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/eps.2011.36