For the design of power-sharing practices in deeply divided places, there are two main macro-political strategies: consociationalism, developed and defended by Arend Lijphart, and centripetalism, associated with the work of Donald L. Horowitz. In this thesis, I consider the academic debate between advocates of the two approaches and consider the extent to which either model represents a successful tool of ethnic conflict management. Two broad questions are asked: can centripetalism promote political stability in deeply divided places? Can consociationalism? I address these questions by engaging a comparative case analysis of six deeply divided places, three of which have adopted centripetal institutions (Fiji, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria’s Second Republic) and three of which have adopted consociational institutions (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, and Northern Ireland). I present three central arguments in the thesis. First, centripetalism should not be recommended as a strategy of conflict management in deeply divided places. Its track record in such places reveals serious weaknesses. Indeed, it has tended to promote instability and exacerbate division rather than promote moderation. Second, consociationalism is better able to promote stability in deeply divided places. Third, consociationalism’s prospects of promoting stability are further enhanced when it is implemented in a revised and expanded form, labelled here as “comprehensive consociation.” This type of power-sharing addresses issues that go beyond concern with just political institutions, such as security sector reform, property restitution, and the return of refugees. These are the type of issues that are most likely to promote political instability if left unresolved. Failure to deal with such issues, I argue, is likely to make it more difficult for elites to agree to share power, or to maintain such arrangements. / Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2009-02-12 12:11:51.013

The main focus of this PhD thesis is fundamental investigations into control techniques of inverter-based microgrids. It aims to develop new and improved control techniques to enhance performance and reliability. It focuses on the modelling, stability analysis and control design of parallel inverters in a microgrid. In inverter-based microgrids, the paralleled inverters need to work in both grid-connected mode and stand-alone mode and should be able to transfer seamlessly between the two modes. In grid-connected mode, the inverters control the amount of power injected into the grid. In stand-alone mode, however, the inverters control the island voltage while the output power is dictated by the load. This can be achieved using droop control. Inverters can have different power set-points during grid-connected mode but in stand-alone mode they all need their power set-points to be adjusted according to their power ratings. However, during sudden unintentional islanding (due to loss of mains), transient power can flow from inverters with high power set-points to inverters with low power set-points, which can raise the DC link voltage of the inverters causing them to shut down. This thesis investigates the transient circulating power between paralleled inverters during unintentional islanding and proposes a controller to limit it. The controller monitors the DC link voltage and adjusts the power set-point in proportion to the rise in the voltage. A small signal model of an island microgrid has been developed and used to design the controller. The model and the controller design have been validated by simulation and practical experimentation. The results confirmed the performance of the proposed controller for limiting the DC link voltage and supporting a seamless mode transfer. The limitation of the droop controller, that is utilized to achieve load sharing between parallel-operated inverters in island mode, has also been addressed. Unequal output impedances among the distribution generation (DG) units lead to the droop control being inaccurate, particularly in terms of reactive power sharing. Many methods reported in the literature adopt low speed communications to achieve efficient sharing. However, the loss of this communication could lead to inaccuracy or even instability. An improved reactive power-sharing controller is proposed in this thesis. It uses the voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC) to estimate the inductance value of the output impedance including the impedance of the interconnecting power cables and to readjust the voltage droop controller gain accordingly. In an island microgrid consisting of parallel-connected inverters, the interaction between an inverter’s output impedance (dominated by the inverter’s filter and voltage controller) and the impedance of the distribution network (dominated by the other paralleled inverters’ output impedances and the interconnecting power cables) might lead to instability. This thesis studies this phenomenon using root locus analysis. A controller based on the second derivative of the output capacitor voltage is proposed to enhance the stability of the system. Matlab simulation results are presented to confirm the validity of the theoretical analysis and the robustness of the proposed controller. A laboratory-scale microgrid consisting of two inverters and local load has been built for the experimental phase of the research work. A controller for a voltage source inverter is designed and implemented. A dSPACE unit has been used to realize the controller and monitor the system in real time with the aid of a host computer. Experimental results of the two voltage source inverters outputs are presented.

The empirical evidence and the academic literature point to the opposed directions on the capability of the territorial arrangements to extenuate conflict in ethnically divided and civil war-worn countries. Little is known about the diverse capacities of the territorial power sharing arrangements in diminishing violence in the post-conflict societies. Therefore, this thesis aims to contribute to the field through studying the conditions under which territorial power sharing arrangements reduce violence in the post-conflict settings. I argue that a resumption of violence is less likely following territorial power sharing arrangements in cases where a relatively  high level of economic decentralization is provided for a subnational entity, as it allows the rebel groups to sustain their support base among key constituencies. To test the theoretical argument, a structured, focused comparison of territorial power sharing arrangements in Aceh province of Indonesia and Mindanao province of the Philippines is conducted. The empirical findings give support to the hypothesis in the expected direction. Aceh, where the resumption of violence did not occur, also was enjoying a relatively higher level of economic decentralization. While in ARMM, where the violence resumed after five years following the peace agreement, economic decentralization was relatively low. Nevertheless, the extended analysis reveals additional factors. Transformation of the rebel organization into the political parties and inclusive peace agreements potentially may have impact on the territorial power sharing arrangements’ capability to contain violence in the post conflict environments.

This thesis explores why political elites in post-conflict ethnically divided states accommodate or resist each other across ethnic lines. The geographic focus of research is on post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia. In both countries the track record of post-conflict politics has been uneven and on some issues political elites still resist agreement and co-operation across ethnic lines. This thesis explores the reasons behind this mixed pattern of ethnic accommodation and resistance. Based on the post-conflict literature in social science, the thesis examines the impact that the following explanatory variables have on ethnic accommodation and resistance: power-sharing mechanisms, political party dynamics, informal practices, policy legacies, and external actors. The analysis is situated at the policy level. Two policy areas, highly sensitive for ethnic relations in the post-conflict context, are analysed and compared in each of the two countries. In Bosnia, the focus is on military and police reforms; in Macedonia, on minority education and decentralisation. Within the wider institutionalist approach, the empirical chapters present the findings of process tracing in each of the four policy fields. Based on these findings, the thesis demonstrates that although power sharing arrangements tend to lead to greater ethnic accommodation, they are not always sufficient to produce accommodating outcomes. Informal practices often supplement the work of formal institutions in providing incentives and means towards greater accommodation. External actors tend to enable greater accommodation when perceived as neutral and credible by domestic political elites. Ethnic divisions in both countries remain and require regular management by a flexible set of institutions, which can accommodate challenges unforeseen by peace agreements.

In deeply divided societies political parties that attempt to reach across that divide, by definition, form the exception. Indeed, in post-settlement contexts where institutions have been designed to accommodate communal identities, non-ethnic parties are broadly cast in the literature as marginal actors. Nevertheless, in a number of segmented societies, civic parties and movements have emerged and seized space in the political system. This thesis probes the puzzle of these actors’ existence and endurance in power-sharing frameworks by comparatively analysing the experiences of civic parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Northern Ireland. It explores the constraints and opportunities these parties encounter in such settings and how they navigate those structures. This thesis seeks to advance understanding of this critical topic, contributing comparative findings on which broader theoretical work can build. Standing at the juncture of the theories of consociational democracy and civic mobilisation in divided societies, this research examines this problem comparatively in the selected cases. Taking a qualitative, interpretive approach it draws primarily on evidence from elite interviews, as well as a limited number of focus groups with voters and analysis of party documents. This thesis has found that civic parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Northern Ireland, in varying ways, meet with severe barriers in the formal and informal structures of their consociational settings, but that they also find critical openings therein. These opportunities, however, can incentivise non-ethnic actors to assume roles and pursue strategies that conflict with their longer term goals and challenge their legitimacy as civic parties. In fighting for survival on the centre ground in divided polities, civic parties are faced with strategic dilemmas that they must carefully negotiate. These findings demonstrate the centrality of institutions for the type of politics and political actors that ensue following peace settlement and bear potential implications for institutional design and party strategy in such contexts.

The scholarly field on decentralization and its relationship with secessionism is divided. Two camps can be distinguished, with opposite conclusions concerning the merits of autonomy concessions. A lack of systematic attention given to the varying capacity of decentralization to produce contrary outcomes has been identified. To address this, an in-depth case analysis on decentralization and secessionism in Spain and Catalonia was conducted. Using a theoretically-guided process tracing approach, this study explores the role of the state on the causal argument. Main findings suggest an increase in secessionist activity when full inclusion through central power sharing arrangements within the state’s executive organs is absent or limited.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study examines the challenges of coordination in Zimbabwe’s power sharing government (2009 to 2013) between ZANU PF and the two MDC formations in the implementation of policies that cross ministerial jurisdictions under ministers from different political parties. The analysis was done through the theoretical lens of Shepsle and Laver (1996) that a cabinet minister as the political head of a major government department have the formal discretion of any policy issues under his jurisdiction and uses his or her own power to influence the substance of any specific proposals that matters within his or her own jurisdiction. I empirically examined the restructuring of the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company and the Green Fuel Project where the outcome of the projects required joint working between ministries controlled by different political parties. Green Fuel is a large scale ethanol producing factory constructed at a cost of US$600 million as a partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and a private investor, but for the blended fuel to be consumed as an end product needed collaboration from the Ministry of Power and Energy Development to put out legislation enforcing mandatory blending. The Minister of Energy and Power Development ruled out mandatory blending of petrol and ethanol that left the US$600 million Green Fuels ethanol projector ground its operations and imperilled 5000 direct jobs the company had created arguing that the government does not make public policy for individuals and that the project was started without the consultation of the MDC. He also argued that the bio ethanol project affected communities in various ways including dispossession of their land, the slashing of their crops, killing of their cattle and the dispossession from their land. The restructuring of ZISCO entailed the partial sale of the government owned entity spearheaded by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. It went through a bidding process and 54% of shares were transferred from the state to EAHL and it was renamed New Zim Steel at a ceremony presided over by the head of state. Critical to ZISCO resuming operations was the transfer of mineral rights and the Minister of Mines Obert Mpofu refused to do so arguing that he did not know about the ZISCO deal, was excluded from the negotiation process of the agreement deal despite that the agreement was concluded by cabinet. In both instances, policies that emanated from a ministry controlled by a minister of another political party did not achieve their horizontal objectives.

This thesis explores the relationship between the mediation led by Kofi Annan in 2008 in Kenya, in the middle of the post-election violence that took place after the presidential elections, and the performance of the subsequent power sharing agreement. This study does so by focusing on five variables, as defined by Alexandre Raffoul, that are particularly relevant in understanding barriers to elite cooperation in power sharing settlements. By analysing problems relating to the balance of power, inside and outside spoilers, identity and political accountability problems and credible commitment problems, barriers to a successful power sharing agreement can be examined. To analyse how the mediation affected power sharing, five variables concerning the mediation are examined, namely the use of leverage, horizontal and vertical inclusivity, relationship-building and the content of the agreement. These five variables are combined one-on-one with the power sharing analysis to determine how mediation affects the performance of power sharing. This study argues that the type of mediation shapes the performance of power sharing, and that barriers to elite cooperation in the power sharing period can be addressed in the mediation phase of conflict to prevent future tensions. This knowledge can contribute to improving mediation efforts and make power sharing a more viable undertaking. By regarding mediation as an integral process to peacebuilding and to change mediation designs when applicable, conflict can be addressed in a more sustainable way that will bring long-term benefits.

ABSTRACT This study sets out the understanding of the type of reconciliation approach used in Somalia, the participating leaders’ understanding, attitudes and actions towards the reconciliation as well as the role of civil society involved in the reconciliation in Somalia. the study used a qualitative abductive desk research methodology. The results based on secondary data drawn from the literature while the analysis has been used on John Paul Lederaches’ reconciliation approaches pyramid. The main findings explain that one level approach of reconciliation has been employed in Somalia, the former leaders' understanding, attitudes and actions have contributed to deepen the conflict, while the current leader's understanding, attitudes and actions seems to help promote national reconciliation in the country and the civil society role has been gradually mounting as the country has been under post conflict peacebuilding. The study identified three main issue are among the determinants of the reconciliation failure in Somalia firstly Somali protracted conflict would not have resisted if for example, the UN and international community had learned from the successful pragmatic reconciliations in the country. Secondly, it was also noted that as long as the supremacy of the clan politics continued, the role of civil society especially women would be compromised. And finally, the risk of reconciliation is greater in the involvement of the unscrupulous leaders.

Thesis advisor: Peter Krause / To what extent do power-sharing arrangements increase or decrease ethnic tensions? This thesis sets to explore this question using Lebanon and Northern Ireland as comparative case studies. I use Pierre Nora’s lieux de mémoire scheme of historical memory to craft a theory of sites of social interaction (SSI). In addition, I outline three main strategies of social cohesion in power-sharing institutions. SSIs and cohesion strategies that increase tensions will cause power-sharing failure in the long run, and vice versa. I conclude that there is a causal link between power-sharing arrangements and ethnic tensions in divided societies, through the mechanisms of SSIs and cohesion strategies. Lebanon and Northern Ireland encode power-sharing with different sites of social interaction, as a reflection of a society’s composition, and different cohesion strategies, as a reflection of power-sharing design. Power-sharing implementation provides us with the missing link in our knowledge of power-sharing and ethnic tensions. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Political Science.