Abstract
In an earlier attempt to compare federalism and consociationalism, Ifound that, both conceptually and empirically, they do not coincide but that they do overlap to a significant extent. In this second comparison, my point of departure is that both concepts entail a rejection of majoritarian democracy. Eight characteristics of non-majoritarian democracy-or consensus democracy-can be identified: (1) executive power sharing, (2) balanced executive-legislative relations, (3) strong bicameralism, (4) multiparty system, (5) multi-dimensional party system, (6) proportional representation, (7) federalism and decentralization, and (8) a written constitution and minority veto. Consociational theorists tend to emphasize the non-majoritarian attributes of power sharing, proportional representation, and multi-partyism, whereas federal theorists stress the non-majoritarian characteristics of strong bicameralism and rigid constitutions, in addition to federalism itself. A similar pattern is revealed by afactor analysis of these variables in twenty-two democratic regimes. Although consociationalism and federalism are nonmajoritarian in nature, they represent clearly different dimensions of non-majoritarianism.
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