The Origins and Institutional Environment of Consociational Parties

Abstract

Where do consociational parties come from? And, if consociation-alism, why intraparty instead of interparty consociationalism? These are questions about the origin of consociational parties and the factors contributing to their development. The question why consociationalism in some countries has taken the form of representation and accommodation inside the ruling party and in other countries came about through interparty arrangements among segmental parties has not been addressed in the elaborate consociational literature, for the simple reason that the distinction between intra-and interparty consociationalism has been overlooked. Hence, the first aim of this comparative chapter will be to examine the conditions that give rise to consociational parties. The second aim is to place consociational parties within the broader context of their political systems. More precisely, the analysis will focus on the interaction between consocia-tional parties and the main political institutions. The argument will be that consociational parties benefit from majoritarian institutions. This is a new, at first blush surprising, insight that can be explained by the position of consociational parties as dominant parties.