Explanation of the statement:
- Social divisions reflects the division of society on the basis of caste, religion , region , language etc and get expressed in politics in various forms.
- Social division is the characteristic feature of any society and gets reflected in politics .
- The outcomes of social division eventually depends how the government responds to conflicting claims of the society.
- It implies the ability of the government to handle social differences by means power sharing among different groups.
- We may give example of Sri Lanka, where the political leadership did not provide for power sharing arrangements among the Sinhalas and the Tamils, pursued the policy of majoritarianism leading to the rise of militant group LTTE and civil strife.
- Belgium, India on the other hand have provided for power sharing arrangement among diverse community members.
- We may give example of Community government in Belgium.
- We may also give example from India, of policy of reservation of seats in jobs and educational institutions for the SC's and ST's, so as to protect minorities from the possible domination of majorities, of . Linguistic reorganisation of the states to represent their interests, for example Telugu speaking state of Andhra Pradesh, then Maharashtra, Gujarat etc. India has also adopted federalism to give representation and autonomy to provinces
- Thus, attempt by the government to bring about unity, integration in the name of homogeneity or majoritarinism will pave the way for disintegration as in case of Yugoslavia or violence in Sri Lanka.
- Government has to accommodate diversity, has to resolve conflicting interests in which government may not be able top appease all the social groups while may pacify some.
