Power sharing, peace and democracy: any obvious relationships?

The document examines the contested nature of 'power sharing,' noting that it is often implemented as a tool for conflict resolution but yields contradictory results in research. It identifies four primary types of power sharing: political, military, territorial, and economic. The author argues that findings vary based on whether researchers view power sharing as a means to achieve stable democracy (consociationalism) or as a tool for postconflict conflict management. While some studies suggest inclusive institutions prolong peace by addressing rebel security concerns, others argue they reward violence, strengthen ethnic divisions, and hinder democratic accountability by marginalizing opposition.

• Power sharing is a contested concept with definitions ranging from specific political pacts between warring parties to broad institutional arrangements including a free press and electoral commissions.
• Arend Lijphart's consociational democracy model identifies four key institutional features for elite cooperation in divided societies: a grand coalition, mutual veto, proportional representation, and segmental autonomy.
• In postconflict contexts, power sharing is typically categorized into four dimensions: political (guaranteeing rebel positions in government), military (integrating rebels into a national army), territorial (granting regional autonomy or federalism), and economic (wealth sharing, often related to natural resources).
• Proponents of the 'democracy theory' approach argue that power sharing strengthens democracy by ensuring minority representation and creating incentives for elite and mass-level cooperation.
• Critics argue that power sharing can be undemocratic because it prevents a vibrant opposition, fixes power balances based on the time of negotiation rather than election results, and may strengthen ethnic divisions.
• From a conflict management perspective, power sharing is theorized to prolong peace by overcoming commitment problems and mitigating the security concerns of former rebels, ensuring they are not marginalized in the postconflict state.
• Some research suggests power sharing can actually reproduce violence by rewarding those who used violent means to gain power and by ignoring the security needs of ordinary citizens.
• Quantitative analyses of peace agreements show that the number of power sharing dimensions included (institutionalization) correlates with peace duration, though some studies find only political power sharing to be significant.
• There is significant inconsistency in how power sharing is measured across different datasets, with researchers disagreeing on the coding of institutions (e.g., parliamentarism or PR elections) for the same countries.

APA

Binningsbø, H. M. (n.d.). Power sharing, peace and democracy: any obvious relationships? Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/36a1cac7-0098-4522-a111-64f6b76873aa/Power sharing peace and democracy Any obvious relationships.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Binningsbø, Helga Malmin. Power sharing, peace and democracy: any obvious relationships? Peace Research Institute Oslo, n.d. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/36a1cac7-0098-4522-a111-64f6b76873aa/Power sharing peace and democracy Any obvious relationships.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Binningsbø |first1=Helga Malmin |title=Power sharing, peace and democracy: any obvious relationships? |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/36a1cac7-0098-4522-a111-64f6b76873aa/Power sharing peace and democracy Any obvious relationships.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{binningsbndpower, author = {Binningsbø, Helga Malmin}, title = {{Power sharing, peace and democracy: any obvious relationships?}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/36a1cac7-0098-4522-a111-64f6b76873aa/Power sharing peace and democracy Any obvious relationships.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }