WILL ONE SIZE FIT TO EVERYONE? ACCOMMODATING DIVIDED SOCIETIES IN A CONSTITUTION: THEORIES AND EXPERIENCES

Abstract

Traditionally, Unitary and Federal systems have held position as systems of ruling to strike a balance between the organs of government and citizens of a country. While the concept of ‘self-rule’ gives priority to territorial or personal sub entities of a pluralist nation, ‘shared-rule’ institutionalizes control over the relationship between sub entities and encompassing entity by giving priority to encompassing entity. Decentralization of power is often followed by countries which adopt the unitary system in order to maintain balance between self and shared rule. On the other hand, both Pure federalism and Con federalism is used by federal followers to obtain the same result. However, executing one nation’s sovereign power without sacrificing any need of the people is always considered a challenging task for the government, as accommodating various identities under one sovereign power is no easy task.

The term ‘accommodate’ is generally explained in the Oxford Dictionary as “to have enough space for somebodies/somethings, especially for a certain number of people” or “to provide somebodies with a place to stay” or “to do or provide what somebody needs or wants”. In simple terms, ‘accommodate’ connotes the provision of a suitable place to persons with different needs by fulfilling their needs. In all means, catering to reasonable facilities of all persons is important to build a good accommodation. Among the nations of the world, there are many which are home to different groups of peoples with different identities. Thus, their needs and expectations differ from each other and from the government. Nevertheless, there is only one Constitution in such nations for all of its citizens, which should accommodate all diversities under one roof. Therefore, a Constitution must be able to recognize all persons of a country as its citizens all the while granting recognition for their distinct identities at the same time. Therefore, there is a need to know how a Constitution can successfully accommodate all its citizens and how pluralist countries have risen to this challenge in the past years.