 |
Debating Consociational Politics: Normative and Explanatory Arguments
| |
| | Unformatted Document Text:
9
Consociationalists’ self-styled realism is evident in how they demur and bristle at the suggestion that they are utopian. In their view, it is the “social constructionists” (those who believe that identities are constructed for specific purposes), and certain liberals and socialists who are too facile and too optimistic about the capacities of political regimes to dissolve, transform, or transcend inherited collective identities. Consociationalists observe that many liberals and socialists eventually work within and embrace consociational arrangements - but only after they have imbibed a strong dose of realism. Academic consociationalists have a sharp eye for the biases of the analyst: having studied national, ethnic, religious, and communal conflicts they are aware of the dangers of imposing their own wishful readings on the attitudes and behaviours of others. They question the cosmopolitan or emancipatory protestations of many anti-consociationalists. These protestations, they think, too often cloak a partisan endorsement of one community’s identity and interests (into which others are to be encouraged to integrate or assimilate, supposedly in their own best interests). The protestations may, however, be made in good faith; in which case, consociationalists think they show a distressing lack of self-consciousness on the part of the relevant persons about their own cultural baggage and how it might be read by others. Consociationalists argue from a standpoint of moral and political necessity: they do not embrace pluralism for its own sake, or because they want a romantic Herderian celebration of a thousand different flowers (or weeds). They maintain that a hard confrontation with reality forces certain options on decision-makers in deeply divided territories. In some tough cases, their claim is that the only real choice is between consociational arrangements and worse alternatives. These worse alternatives may take the form of sustained armed conflict, genocide, ethnic expulsion, imposed partition, or imposed control (i.e., the coercive control by one community or coalition of communities of another). The consociational claim is that dispassionate analysis sometimes shows that that the choice is between consociational democracy and no (worthwhile) democracy at all. Their view is that it is best not to have to build democracy after filling graveyards. A negotiated consociational settlement, they insist, is better than a winner-takes-all outcome - especially where taking all implies defining the state and killing, expelling, or assimilating the losers.
|
| | Authors: O'Leary, Brendan. |
|
| |
|
|
9
Consociationalists’ self-styled realism is evident in how they demur and bristle at the
suggestion that they are utopian. In their view, it is the “social constructionists” (those who
believe that identities are constructed for specific purposes), and certain liberals and socialists
who are too facile and too optimistic about the capacities of political regimes to dissolve,
transform, or transcend inherited collective identities. Consociationalists observe that many
liberals and socialists eventually work within and embrace consociational arrangements - but
only after they have imbibed a strong dose of realism. Academic consociationalists have a
sharp eye for the biases of the analyst: having studied national, ethnic, religious, and
communal conflicts they are aware of the dangers of imposing their own wishful readings on
the attitudes and behaviours of others. They question the cosmopolitan or emancipatory
protestations of many anti-consociationalists. These protestations, they think, too often cloak
a partisan endorsement of one community’s identity and interests (into which others are to
be encouraged to integrate or assimilate, supposedly in their own best interests). The
protestations may, however, be made in good faith; in which case, consociationalists think
they show a distressing lack of self-consciousness on the part of the relevant persons about
their own cultural baggage and how it might be read by others.
Consociationalists argue from a standpoint of moral and political necessity: they do not
embrace pluralism for its own sake, or because they want a romantic Herderian celebration
of a thousand different flowers (or weeds). They maintain that a hard confrontation with
reality forces certain options on decision-makers in deeply divided territories. In some tough
cases, their claim is that the only real choice is between consociational arrangements and
worse alternatives. These worse alternatives may take the form of sustained armed conflict,
genocide, ethnic expulsion, imposed partition, or imposed control (i.e., the coercive control
by one community or coalition of communities of another). The consociational claim is that
dispassionate analysis sometimes shows that that the choice is between consociational
democracy and no (worthwhile) democracy at all. Their view is that it is best not to have to
build democracy after filling graveyards. A negotiated consociational settlement, they insist,
is better than a winner-takes-all outcome - especially where taking all implies defining the
state and killing, expelling, or assimilating the losers.
|
|
 Convention | | All Academic Convention makes running your annual conference simple and cost effective. It is your online solution for abstract management, peer review, and scheduling for your annual meeting or convention. | | Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. | | Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! | | Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! | | Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. | | Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! | | Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! | | Click here for more information. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
