Reconceptualizing the Study of Power-Sharing
Reconceptualizing the Study of Power-Sharing

Summary/Abstract: Abstract. This article argues for re-conceptualizing the study of power-sharing in post-conflict state-building. In Southeastern Europe, as elsewhere, power-sharing has become the most widely employed approach to accommodate the competing demands of ethnonational groups. As a result, the Southeastern European cases of power-sharing have been important for the larger study of power-sharing and post-conflict state-building. This article argues that in order to draw meaningful conclusions from these cases, the study of power-sharing needs to become more multi-dimensional, moving away from the study of formal institutional rules to include historical context, local debates, the strength of the state and the performance of the formal procedures to derive a more meaningful picture of power-sharing. Such reconceptu- alization will not just enhance our understanding of power-sharing in Southeastern Europe, but contribute more broadly to a more nuanced debate on this subject.

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