Consociationalism and the State

Figures & data

Table 1. Empirical claims about consociationalism and the state.

Issue	Claim	Why?	Why not?
Sequence	The state as precondition for consociation.	Resources and civil society. Effective inclusion.	Consociation can exist without and beyond the state.
	Consociation as precondition for state building in divided/post-conflict societies.	The political features of consociationalism produce stability. The socio-political features of consociationalism are building blocks for the state.	Alternative arrangements possible and desirable.
Tradeoff	State strength is inversely related to the political features of consociationalism.	Central state relatively weak compared to lower levels of governments. Central state immobilized by consociational decision-making procedures.	What is the counterfactual? What is the alternative? Why this obsession with the central state?
	State strength is inversely related to the socio-political features of consociationalism.	Societal actors perform “state” functions.	What is wrong with autonomy? Segments as source of stability. Consociationalism as the solution, not the problem.