Consociational Power Sharing Arrangements as a Tool for Democracy: The Experiences of Macedonia and Kosovo

Abstract

The protection of the different communities involved in the ethnic conflicts and power sharing arrangements among them have become necessary corollaries to democracy in the western Balkan region. In the case of Macedonia and Kosovo, power sharing arrangements have been imposed by the international actors through the peace agreements, in order to initially reach the goal of establishing peace in the countries. However the establishment of real democratic participation through power sharing settlements still remains a prerogative. Based on the analysis of the different power sharing mechanisms adopted by Macedonia and Kosovo, the article provides evidences that incrementing the political participation of the different communities in the central and local state institutions helps countries to decrease the tensions between host state and main non dominant group. The paper also demonstrates that by sharing the power between the several groups present on the territory, leads to a consociational democratic participation form