Just big fans of Swiss-style consociationalism.
November 15, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Just big fans of Swiss-style consociationalism.
Very happy to announce that @plc-journal.bsky.social has published an abbreviated version of our introduction to the OUP Handbook of Dutch Politics. It is a concise analysis of how Dutch politics has (not) changed since the heydays of consociationalism plc-journal.eu/article/view...
plc-journal.eu
September 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Very happy to announce that @plc-journal.bsky.social has published an abbreviated version of our introduction to the OUP Handbook of Dutch Politics. It is a concise analysis of how Dutch politics has (not) changed since the heydays of consociationalism plc-journal.eu/article/view...
No other 🇪🇺 MS allowed the nationalist id to take over as the UK did. The rest of us, at least in Western Europe, tried to get on with consociationalism and community.
Now, what Brexit did represent was the next step towards the return of Britain's "other" nationalisms.
4
Now, what Brexit did represent was the next step towards the return of Britain's "other" nationalisms.
4
May 30, 2026 at 6:58 AM
No other 🇪🇺 MS allowed the nationalist id to take over as the UK did. The rest of us, at least in Western Europe, tried to get on with consociationalism and community.
Now, what Brexit did represent was the next step towards the return of Britain's "other" nationalisms.
4
Now, what Brexit did represent was the next step towards the return of Britain's "other" nationalisms.
4
Often this gets framed through the usage of "conflict regulation" and "consociationalism" specifically surrounding South Africa and Lebanon; the arguments are barely any different from colonial-era language, except it is articulated in the language of technocratic neoliberal World Bank/IMF jargon.
People will dismiss eurocentrism as "Woke nonsense" but it is a key reason why so much of scholarship on Africa and Mena that is just 20-30 years old sucks.
Much of it fundamentally misunderstood social & political dynamics, & had a disdainful attitude towards the local cultural/intellectual debates
Much of it fundamentally misunderstood social & political dynamics, & had a disdainful attitude towards the local cultural/intellectual debates
October 7, 2026 at 9:06 AM
Often this gets framed through the usage of "conflict regulation" and "consociationalism" specifically surrounding South Africa and Lebanon; the arguments are barely any different from colonial-era language, except it is articulated in the language of technocratic neoliberal World Bank/IMF jargon.
There are numerous myths and clichés surrounding Swiss politics, and one prevalent notion is consociationalism, suggesting the elites’ willingness to collaborate. However, those days are long past. Today, Switzerland boasts the most polarized party system in Europe polisky
October 7, 2023 at 9:25 AM
There are numerous myths and clichés surrounding Swiss politics, and one prevalent notion is consociationalism, suggesting the elites’ willingness to collaborate. However, those days are long past. Today, Switzerland boasts the most polarized party system in Europe polisky
Erdoğan’s recent speeches also envision a kind of neo-Ottoman (it’s back!) consociationalism-lite under a superpresidential system with him at the center
July 19, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Erdoğan’s recent speeches also envision a kind of neo-Ottoman (it’s back!) consociationalism-lite under a superpresidential system with him at the center
consociationalism is new one, ta! My feeling is that the British union will have to go before the European one can come back. Also London and the Overseas Territories will have to stop their money laundering
May 30, 2026 at 8:29 AM
consociationalism is new one, ta! My feeling is that the British union will have to go before the European one can come back. Also London and the Overseas Territories will have to stop their money laundering
This is the thing about that kind of consociationalism: it is both just a stopgap until a shared community is built between communities and a genuine barrier to doing so
August 14, 2025 at 10:16 AM
This is the thing about that kind of consociationalism: it is both just a stopgap until a shared community is built between communities and a genuine barrier to doing so
My article "Unstable Concepts, Unresolved Controversies" was attributed to an issue. It explores how conceptual issues emerged as consociationalism and centripetalism were brought together under the label power-sharing – and proposes ways to address these issues.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Unstable Concepts, Unresolved Controversies: Reassembling Power-Sharing, Consociationalism, and Centripetalism
After half a century of research, the literature on institutional design for ethnic conflict management is still in search of a scientific consensus. This article argues that underlying conceptual ...
www.tandfonline.com
August 22, 2025 at 7:51 AM
My article "Unstable Concepts, Unresolved Controversies" was attributed to an issue. It explores how conceptual issues emerged as consociationalism and centripetalism were brought together under the label power-sharing – and proposes ways to address these issues.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Can we have consociationalism tomorrow, a Monday tongue twister.
November 24, 2024 at 12:03 PM
Can we have consociationalism tomorrow, a Monday tongue twister.
It now often takes 2-3 years for Stormont to progress legislation. Back in the sixties, officials expected it to take a few months (see below). Admittedly, that was to put a uni in Coleraine, not Derry. So NI has experienced speedy sectarian law making and glacial consociationalism...
September 2, 2026 at 10:54 AM
It now often takes 2-3 years for Stormont to progress legislation. Back in the sixties, officials expected it to take a few months (see below). Admittedly, that was to put a uni in Coleraine, not Derry. So NI has experienced speedy sectarian law making and glacial consociationalism...
*consociationalism
December 15, 2024 at 4:26 PM
*consociationalism
Switzerland and its democracy are notorious for many different things. But: Did you know that it also hae the eldest cabinet in Europe? Nowaday’s Swiss democracy is a matter of gerontocracy > consociationalism
Our blogpost: www.defacto.expert/2023/02/07/d...
Data: WhoGov
Polisky
Our blogpost: www.defacto.expert/2023/02/07/d...
Data: WhoGov
Polisky
September 24, 2023 at 6:09 PM
Switzerland and its democracy are notorious for many different things. But: Did you know that it also hae the eldest cabinet in Europe? Nowaday’s Swiss democracy is a matter of gerontocracy > consociationalism
Our blogpost: www.defacto.expert/2023/02/07/d...
Data: WhoGov
Polisky
Our blogpost: www.defacto.expert/2023/02/07/d...
Data: WhoGov
Polisky
[OUT] 'Consociationalism as opportunity structure: Hezbollah and the institutionalization of competitive authoritarianism', new paper by @lucatomini.bsky.social, professor at SciencePo ULB (Cevipol), with Anthony Nakhle, Miguel Mendelek, in Mediterranean Politics
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Consociationalism as opportunity structure: Hezbollah and the institutionalization of competitive authoritarianism
Contemporary research on autocratization largely explains democratic erosion as the outcome of elected incumbents who gradually undermine constraints, competition, and civil liberties. This article...
www.tandfonline.com
October 5, 2026 at 7:05 PM
[OUT] 'Consociationalism as opportunity structure: Hezbollah and the institutionalization of competitive authoritarianism', new paper by @lucatomini.bsky.social, professor at SciencePo ULB (Cevipol), with Anthony Nakhle, Miguel Mendelek, in Mediterranean Politics
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Consociationalism has a lot to answer for
February 21, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Consociationalism has a lot to answer for
And you really need to avoid going down the road if consociationalism, because we've tried that in NI and in Bosnia and the evidence is clear - it's better than shooting at each other, but it has nothing else to recommend it.
September 17, 2026 at 8:34 AM
And you really need to avoid going down the road if consociationalism, because we've tried that in NI and in Bosnia and the evidence is clear - it's better than shooting at each other, but it has nothing else to recommend it.
Switzerland is renowned for consociationalism and consensus democracy, yet majoritarianism plays a key role in electing the seven members of the federal gov‘t. Given the non-parliamentary & non-presidential gov‘t system, the federal gov‘t cannot be dismissed www.parlament.ch/de/%C3%BCber... polisky
Next week, Swiss federal MPs will (re-)elect the 7 members of the federal gov't. In Switzerland, unlike all other democracies, election results do *not* impact the cabinet's party composition. Remarkably, the FDP party has governed since the 1848 outset, *despite* steady electoral losses polisky
December 10, 2023 at 5:51 PM
Switzerland is renowned for consociationalism and consensus democracy, yet majoritarianism plays a key role in electing the seven members of the federal gov‘t. Given the non-parliamentary & non-presidential gov‘t system, the federal gov‘t cannot be dismissed www.parlament.ch/de/%C3%BCber... polisky
i’m pretty much categorically against consociationalism fwiw, and dayton highlights the extent to which when it’s implemented as a “temporary” measure to end kinetic violence it has a way of becoming permanently entrenched
March 18, 2026 at 2:06 PM
i’m pretty much categorically against consociationalism fwiw, and dayton highlights the extent to which when it’s implemented as a “temporary” measure to end kinetic violence it has a way of becoming permanently entrenched
I fully accept that I'm now an old professor who plays old music. Tomorrow I will be subjecting my students to listening to The Cranberries Zombie because I am teaching about consociationalism.
You don't see the connection? Poor you to have not taken ethnic politics taught by a Gen Xer.
You don't see the connection? Poor you to have not taken ethnic politics taught by a Gen Xer.
August 24, 2023 at 4:53 AM
I fully accept that I'm now an old professor who plays old music. Tomorrow I will be subjecting my students to listening to The Cranberries Zombie because I am teaching about consociationalism.
You don't see the connection? Poor you to have not taken ethnic politics taught by a Gen Xer.
You don't see the connection? Poor you to have not taken ethnic politics taught by a Gen Xer.
Dank voor het artikel. Consociationalism is een tongbreker!
September 16, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Dank voor het artikel. Consociationalism is een tongbreker!
In his recent article, just attributed to the latest issue of Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, PhD candidate Alexandre Raffoul explores conceptual issues in the typology of ethnic power-sharing – and proposes ways to "reassemble" the framework more productively: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Unstable Concepts, Unresolved Controversies: Reassembling Power-Sharing, Consociationalism, and Centripetalism
After half a century of research, the literature on institutional design for ethnic conflict management is still in search of a scientific consensus. This article argues that underlying conceptual ...
www.tandfonline.com
August 22, 2025 at 12:54 PM
In his recent article, just attributed to the latest issue of Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, PhD candidate Alexandre Raffoul explores conceptual issues in the typology of ethnic power-sharing – and proposes ways to "reassemble" the framework more productively: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
I haven’t yet soured on ethnic federalism but maybe that’s just selfishness lmao. I do think some form of equipping vulnerable minorities with extra political power (which, yes, is confessionalism/consociationalism which isn’t working great in Lebanon) is a better course of action than ethnostate.
July 31, 2025 at 4:16 PM
I haven’t yet soured on ethnic federalism but maybe that’s just selfishness lmao. I do think some form of equipping vulnerable minorities with extra political power (which, yes, is confessionalism/consociationalism which isn’t working great in Lebanon) is a better course of action than ethnostate.
My study of conceptual issues in the literature on power-sharing, consociationalism, and centripetalism (with recommandations on how to enhance conceptual clarity) was published in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
April 15, 2025 at 12:57 PM
My study of conceptual issues in the literature on power-sharing, consociationalism, and centripetalism (with recommandations on how to enhance conceptual clarity) was published in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
5/ Contesting Power-Sharing? LGBTQ+ Activism and the Sexual Citizenship of Consociationalism — Cera Murtagh & John Nagle.
Consociationalism as sexual citizenship: how rights and recognition get structured—and contested (Northern Ireland). www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Consociationalism as sexual citizenship: how rights and recognition get structured—and contested (Northern Ireland). www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Contesting Power-Sharing? LGBTQ+ Activism and the Sexual Citizenship of Consociationalism
Notwithstanding valuable contributions, the relationship between power-sharing and sexuality remains undertheorized. This paper asks if consociationalism can be seen as a form of sexual citizenship...
www.tandfonline.com
February 24, 2026 at 12:51 PM
5/ Contesting Power-Sharing? LGBTQ+ Activism and the Sexual Citizenship of Consociationalism — Cera Murtagh & John Nagle.
Consociationalism as sexual citizenship: how rights and recognition get structured—and contested (Northern Ireland). www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Consociationalism as sexual citizenship: how rights and recognition get structured—and contested (Northern Ireland). www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....