To share or divide power? Minorities in autonomous regions, the case of the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao

Abstract

Autonomy granted to minority groups as a form of power-sharing may not necessarily address the representation and welfare needs of the smaller minorities within the autonomous government. Although numerically insignificant, the smaller minorities' disempowerment and discrimination can lead to these groups' further marginalization and weaken the democratic viability and legitimacy of the autonomy project. What institutional mechanisms would work best for minorities-within-minorities in an autonomous region? Should similar power-sharing or consociational arrangements be replicated within the region? Or, are power-dividing measures and the integrative approach more appropriate for regional stability and democratic governance? Analyzing the institutional design of and practices in the Philippines' Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, this paper concludes that a combination of power-sharing and power-dividing measures are needed to address the gaps in representation and protection of welfare of all ethnic groups for both the short- and long-term viability of regional autonomy.