This volume considers an array of power-sharing systems in divided cities and states, with critical evaluations of their merits and defects as well as explanations of their emergence, maintenance, and failings.

Power sharing may be broadly defined as any set of arrangements that prevents one political agency or collective from monopolizing power, whether temporarily or permanently. Ideally, such measures promote inclusiveness or at least the coexistence of divergent cultures within a state. In places deeply divided by national, ethnic, linguistic, or religious conflict, power sharing is the standard prescription for reconciling antagonistic groups, particularly where genocide, expulsion, or coerced assimilation threaten the lives and rights of minority peoples. In recent history, the success record of this measure is mixed.

Power Sharing in Deeply Divided Places features fifteen analytical studies of power-sharing systems, past and present, as well as critical evaluations of the role of electoral systems and courts in their implementation. Interdisciplinary and international in formation and execution, the chapters encompass divided cities such as Belfast, Jerusalem, Kirkuk, and Sarajevo and divided places such as Belgium, Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa, as well as the Holy Roman Empire, the Saffavid Empire, Aceh in Indonesia, and the European Union.

Equally suitable for specialists, teachers, and students, Power Sharing in Deeply Divided Places considers the merits and defects of an array of variant systems and provides explanations of their emergence, maintenance, and failings; some essays offer lucid proposals targeted at particular places. While this volume does not presume that power sharing is a panacea for social reconciliation, it does suggest how it can help foster peace and democracy in conflict-torn countries.

Contributors: Liam Anderson, Florian Bieber, Scott A. Bollens, Benjamin Braude, Ed Cairns, Randall Collins, Kris Deschouwer, Bernard Grofman, Colin Irwin, Samuel Issacharoff, Allison McCulloch, Joanne McEvoy, Brendan O'Leary, Philippe van Parijs, Alfred Stepan, Ronald Wintrobe.

Chapter 1. Power Sharing in Deeply Divided Places: An Advocate's Introduction
Brendan O'Leary

Part I. Power Sharing and Electoral Systems

Chapter 2. Electoral Rules and Ethnic Representation and Accommodation: Combining Social Choice and Electoral System Perspectives
Bernard Grofman

Chapter 3. The Track Record of Centripetalism in Deeply Divided Places
Allison McCulloch

Chapter 4. Electoral Engineering for a Stalled Federation: A Countrywide Electoral District for Belgium's Federal Parliament
Kris Deschouwer and Philippe van Parijs

Part II. Historical and Conceptual Forays on Power Sharing

Chapter 5. A Theory of Accommodation Versus Conflict: With Special Reference to the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Ronald Wintrobe

Chapter 6. The Success of Religion as a Source for Compromise in Divided Empires: Ottoman and Safavid, Past and Present
Benjamin Braude

Chapter 7. Geopolitics and the Long-Term Construction of Democracy
Randall Collins

Chapter 8. Courts, Constitutions, and the Limits of Majoritarianism
Samuel Issacharoff

Part III. Contemporary Power-Sharing Questions

Chapter 9. A Revised Theory of Federacy and a Case Study of Civil War Termination in Aceh, Indonesia
Alfred Stepan

Chapter 10. We Forbid! The Mutual Veto and Power-Sharing Democracy
Joanne McEvoy

Chapter 11. Northern Ireland: Power Sharing, Contact, Identity, and Leadership
Ed Cairns

Chapter 12. Public Opinion and Power Sharing in Deeply Divided Places
Colin Irwin

Chapter 13. The Balkans: The Promotion of Power Sharing by Outsiders
Florian Bieber

Chapter 14. Governing Polarized Cities
Scott A. Bollens

Chapter 15. Power Sharing in Kirkuk: The Need for Compromise
Liam Anderson

Chapter 16. Power Sharing: An Advocate's Conclusion
Brendan O'Leary

List of Contributors
Index
Acknowledgments