Practice Questions
Contrast the political situation of the Dutch-speaking community in Belgium as a whole with their situation in the capital city, Brussels.
Contrast majoritarianism with a democratic system that incorporates power-sharing.
Identify the form of power sharing where power is divided between the legislature, executive, and judiciary.
Define the term 'Civil War'.
Compare the vertical division of power with the horizontal division of power.
Name the three main linguistic communities of Belgium.
Define the term 'Majoritarianism'.
Formulate a counter-argument to the claim that 'sharing power equals weakening the country'.
Propose one way the judiciary in India exercises a check on the power of the legislature.
Demonstrate how a coalition government is a form of direct power-sharing between political parties.
Evaluate the purpose of 'reserved constituencies' in India as a power-sharing mechanism.
Propose a term for the division of powers involving higher and lower levels of government, as seen in Belgium and India.
Critique the idea that the tyranny of the majority is only oppressive for the minority.
Analyze the impact of the 1956 Act on the relations between the Sinhala and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka.
Explain the moral reason for power sharing.
Explain the prudential reason for power sharing.
Explain any three majoritarian measures adopted by the Sri Lankan government to establish Sinhala supremacy.
List the countries that share a border with Belgium.
Recall the linguistic composition of Brussels, the capital city of Belgium.
Analyze why the French-speaking community accepted equal representation in the central government of Belgium despite being a minority in the country.
Describe the ethnic composition of Sri Lanka's population.
Analyze the role of the 'community government' in Belgium's power-sharing model.
Apply the concept of federalism to explain the vertical division of power in a country like India.
Create a scenario explaining how a coalition government is formed and justify why it is a form of direct power sharing.
Justify the inclusion of pressure groups and movements as a form of power sharing in a democracy.
Analyze the prudential reason for power-sharing by examining the consequences of its absence in Sri Lanka.
Examine how the horizontal distribution of power among the legislature, executive, and judiciary acts as a system of checks and balances.
Analyze the moral argument for power-sharing, explaining why it is considered the 'very spirit of democracy'.
Examine how the system of 'reserved constituencies' in India applies the principle of power-sharing.
Evaluate the long-term consequences of the paths taken by Belgium and Sri Lanka in handling their ethnic diversities. Why did one approach lead to peace and the other to civil war?
Justify the statement that power sharing is the very spirit of democracy, using a moral argument.
Critique the 1956 Act in Sri Lanka that recognized Sinhala as the only official language from both a prudential and a moral perspective.
Evaluate the role of the 'community government' in Belgium as an innovative form of power sharing.
Justify the need for both horizontal and vertical division of power in a large and diverse country like India.
Describe the vertical division of power.
Compare the approaches taken by Belgium and Sri Lanka to manage their ethnic diversity and political conflicts.
Explain the consequences of the majoritarian policies adopted by the Sri Lankan government after independence.
Summarize the key elements of the Belgian model of accommodation adopted between 1970 and 1993.
Formulate an argument explaining why a government that relies solely on prudential reasons for power sharing might be less stable than one that also embraces moral reasons.
Examine the key features of the Belgian model of accommodation that helped prevent civic strife.
Explain how the approach to power sharing in Belgium was different from that in Sri Lanka.
Propose a compromise for Lebanon that could address Khalil's desire for a 'normal' democracy while acknowledging his elders' fear of renewed civil war.
Examine the argument that sharing power weakens a country, using the Belgian example to form a counter-argument.
Describe the four main forms of power sharing in modern democracies.
Design a three-point power-sharing agreement for a hypothetical country with a 60 percent majority community and a 40 percent minority community, aiming to prevent the kind of conflict seen in Sri Lanka.