Does Education Help the Transition out of Power-Sharing in Plural Societies? A Comparative Study

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between education policy and transition out of power-sharing by comparing the archetypal case study of the Netherlands to five contemporary typical cases of deeply divided societies which adopted power-sharing to manage their conflicts (Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of North Macedonia, Iraq, Lebanon, and Northern Ireland). It shows that education systems generally reproduce rather than challenging power-sharing, particularly through separate and unequal schools. However, flexible institutional designs in education (as well as the wider political system) can accommodate shifting identities, ultimately facilitating transition out of consociation over the long term.

Acknowledgements

Research for this article was made possible by the Leverhulme Trust under Grant ECF-2015-026. I would also like to thank Prof Brendan O’Leary, Prof Stefan Wolff and the anonymous reviewers for providing extensive feedback on previous drafts; and the Centre for Conflict Studies, University of Utrecht for the visiting fellowship that allowed me to complete this research.

Notes

1 The existing literature adopts a variety of definitions of power-sharing (Binningsbø, 2013). This study will refer only to cases of consociational power-sharing, broadly exhibiting the four characteristics identified by Lijphart in his study of the Dutch politics of accommodation and refined in his later work (Lijphart, 1968, 1977, 2013).

2 A third group proposes that such transition is undesirable, as peace and reconciliation are possible within the broad structures of power-sharing (McCulloch, 2017). The implications of this possibility are explored in the conclusion.

3 The dataset of Political Agreements in Internal Conflicts (Fontana, Kartsonaki, Walsh, Wolff, & Yakinthou, 2018) identifies eight further peace agreements as approaching the consociational model: Burundi (2000), Liberia (2003), Mali (1991), Philippines (1996), Rwanda (1993), Somalia (2008), Sudan (2006), Uganda (2008).

4 Where translation was needed (for interviews and archival material in Lebanon and The Netherlands, respectively), I employed long-term research assistants. All the assistants were native speakers, University-educated and trained in research methods. To prevent valuable information being overlooked, I had regular, in-depth discussions with the assistants, aiming to gather their general impressions on trends and patterns across different sources.

5 Fieldwork was carried out in The Netherlands, Lebanon, FYR of Macedonia and Northern Ireland between 2012 and 2017.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Leverhulme Trust: [grant number ECF-2015-026].