The Consociational Democracy and its Application in Lebanon

Political scientists define consociational state as a state with major internal divisions along ethnic, religious or linguistic lines. It is often viewed as synonymous with power-sharing, where none of the divisions are large enough to form a majority group. Social elites have an important role with their agreements on cooperation that is considered to be a key to maintain a stable democracy. Consociational democracy exists in completely divided countries; where those differences could be seen as obstacles to establish a democratic system with full stability. The goals of consociationalism are mainly to achieve governmental stability, the persistence of the power-sharing arrangements, survival of democracy and avoidance of violence and conflicts. When consociationalism is organized along religious confession’s line, it is known as confessionalism as it is the case in Lebanon.