Power Sharing Class 10 Notes Political Science (Civics) Chapter 1

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Power sharing helps in bringing political stability in a country by minimising the probability of conflict among its social groups. Power sharing is one of the essential aspects of democracy, which involves the participation of citizens in the process of decision making.

Proper sharing of power among the different organs of government, namely legislature, executive and judiciary enables a country to hasten the path of growth and development.

Horizontal distribution of power involves sharing of power by different organs of government, such as legislature, executive and judiciary. In such form of power sharing, different organs of government have different powers. This avoids unnecessary clashes among their powers and brings about a balance in the system.

Vertical distribution of power involves sharing of power at different levels of government, that is Central, State and Local governments. In this form of power sharing, Central government delegates its power to the State government, which further delegates its power to local and smaller government bodies. Power is also shared among social groups like religious groups and linguistic groups.

Belgium is a small European country. Out of the composite population of Belgium, 59% of Belgian people speak Dutch, 40% speak French and rest 1% speak German. Whereas in Brussels, the capital city of Belgian, 80% of the people speak French while 20% speak Dutch.

In Belgium, the French speaking community was in minority but they were economically and educationally more stable as compared to the majority community, that is, the Dutch speaking community.

According to the Belgian model, Central government of the country has ministers from both majority and minority communities of the country. Central government has delegated a number of its powers equally to the state governments of the regions where Dutch speaking and French speaking communities reside. Brussels has a separate government wherein French speaking community and Dutch speaking community both have equal participation.

Apart from the Central and the State Government, there is a third kind of government known as the ‘community government.’ A ‘community government’ is chosen by those people who belong to a particular language community. This type of government solves issues related to the culture, education and language. This government prevents civil war among different linguistic communities.

Sri Lanka got independence in 1948. Out of the total population, 74% of the people speak Sinhala and 18% speak Tamil (in which 13% are Sri Lankan Tamils and 5% are Indian Tamils). Sinhala-speaking people are primarily Buddhists, while Tamils are either Hindus or Muslims. Only 7% of Sri Lanka’s population is Christian, who speaks both Tamil and Sinhala.

In Sri Lanka, majoritarianism was practised. Majoritarianism is a political philosophy, wherein the majority community has the right to govern the country in the way it wants. As a result, Sinhala was established as the official language of Sri Lanka in 1956. The government policies favoured Sinhala people and they got government jobs and good educational institutes. A new constitution was established for the protection and growth of Buddhism. Such activities alienated Sri Lankan Tamils.

Sri Lankan Tamils formed parties and started struggles for establishing Tamil as an official language. They demanded equal education and employment opportunities. But Sinhala government denied this.

By 1980s, various political organisations were established in Sri Lanka and they started demanding an independent Tamil Eelam (state) in the northern and eastern parts of the country. Such differences between the two communities led Sri Lanka into the state of a civil war.


1. Linguistic: The study of any language is called linguistic and the people who study them are known as linguists.	5. Democracy: Democracy refers to a country or state that is ruled by its citizens. In other words, the citizens of a country or state can participate in the decisions taken by the government.
2. Minority: Minority refers to the group of people, who is different from the people having major hold in a particular society. These differences can be based on the caste, colour, power or race.	6. Violence: Violence is the physical force used by an individual against another individual, group or community intentionally. It may result in physical or mental harm or even death of any of the parties involved in this act.
3. Existence: In general terms, existence refers to the survival of an individual, group or community in the society or market or state.	7. Power: Power refers to the ability of an individual or group to influence and control the activities and behaviour of people. Power is often used for describing the authority of an individual or group in the social structure.
4. Liberation Movement: A liberation movement refers to a political organisation that rebels against the policies and procedures of the government or a colonial power either violently or non-violently. Such movements are often organised for getting independence based on a nationalist identity and an anti-imperialist outlook.	8. Power Sharing: Power sharing refers to a political arrangement, wherein different groups, either from supporting parties or opposition parties, take part in the government.