rather than each group dividing up its own responsibilities30. Power sharing must be exhibited at the parliamentary level since in a democracy, these are the institutions where laws are proposed and passed, and where the people of the state are represented. Power sharing should be exercised at the governmental level through a legal framework requiring cooperation between groups – although this reduces minority inclusion to simply a fulfillment of a legal requirement, it assists in the political process of coalition building in the executive branch31. Finally, veto rights are a significant factor in power-sharing agreements, but their high stakes mean that they can have very negative consequences on the functioning of the arrangement, particularly when an issue being discussed is of “vital interest” to one or more of the groups32. The symbolism of power-sharing should not be understated, since a maintained power-sharing arrangement begins to define a state as multiethnic, and its citizens become normalized to the “other” group having proportional representation in political decision-making33.
VVIn the states with recent memory of conflict, some process of transitional justice would be fruitful in tandem with, and subsumed within, EU measures to develop a post-conflict rhetoric and quell rivalries and tensions with “other” groups. Power-sharing measures, as well as Horowitz’s argument for constitution building, may also be effective in states where there are large and permanent minority populations, requiring them to be formally integrated into the political apparatus of the state. He argues that conciliatory institutions should be created that mitigate conflict, and new constitutions should be developed that account for minority and ethnic rights outright34. This can be combined with Bieber’s power-sharing concept, whereby the extent to which each group shares power and exercises parliamentary, governmental, and veto-sharing rights be embedded in the state’s constitution. However, issues may remain on the social front around integration of minority and “other” groups into the welfare system, education system, and labour market in particular
98
30. Bieber 2004
31. Bieber 2004
32. Ibid. p.98
33. Ibid.
34. Horowitz 2008