Explain accommodation in beligium and sri …

Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, the democratically elected government opted for a series of Majoritarian policy measures because they desired Sinhala supremacy. Some of the measures taken were:

Sinhala was the only official language.

The governments followed preferential policies and Sinhala applicants.

This made the Sri Lankan Tamils feel alienated. As a result of this, the Sri Lankan Tamils launched parties and began struggles for the recognition of Tamil as an official language. By the 1980s several political organisations were formed. They demanded for an independent Tamil Eelam (state) in northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. All this soon turned into a Civil War, thereby, causing distress in the nation.

Accommodation in Belgium

From 1970 to 1993, the constitution of Belgian was amended four times. The idea was to work out an arrangement that would make everyone to live together. Key elements of the Belgian model are:

The number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the central government.

Certain powers of the central government were given to state governments of the two regions of the country.

There was a separate government for Brussels in which both the communities had equal representation.

There was a provision of ‘community government’ that was elected by people belonging to one language.

Hence, it was a fairly better alternative than the majoritarian policy of Sri Lanka.