We are pleased to invite you to a webinar on Exclusion amid Inclusion: Power-Sharing and Non-Dominant Minorities organised by the Centre for the Study of Ethnic Conflict, Queen’s University Belfast and the PSA Ethnopolitics Specialist Group on Thursday, March 18 at 16:30 GMT

About Exclusion amid Inclusion: Power-Sharing and Non-Dominant Minorities 

The tension within power-sharing has been ever present in both scholarly debate and real-world application: For power-sharing to create stability and pacify the divided groups, it must marginalise those actors who were not directly involved in conflict, who we refer to as non-dominant groups. We refer to this institutional bias in favour of large groups as the "exclusion amid inclusion" (EAI) dilemma.

More recently, the EAI problem has formed a core impetus for theoretical refinements to consociational theory, including the distinction between corporate and liberal power-sharing. In practice, the EAI dilemma has been brought into sharp focus by a number of constitutional crises and controversies in power-sharing states. Most notably, this includes the 2009 European Court of Human Rights’ Sejdic-Finci ruling and the reform of the petition of concern mechanism in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

While the EAI dilemma continues to plague power-sharing in theory and practice, our ESRC-funded project has identified ways which would facilitate greater inclusion. As a model of post-conflict democracy, power-sharing has proven highly effective in securing peace and stability in places riven by conflict. The system has much to offer and when refined can significantly improve in ways that address the EAI problem.

The format for the event will include:

• An overview of the project and presentation of academic findings (Timofey Agarin, Queen’s University Belfast)
• Presentation of the policy implications (Allison McCulloch, Brandon University)
• Case study overviews

o Northern Ireland (Cera Murtagh, Villanova University)

o Western Balkans (Aleksandra Zdeb, Jagiellonian University)

o Lebanon (Drew Mikhael, Queen’s University Belfast)

You can read more about the project or register for the webinar.