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Plural society


A plural society is defined by Fredrik Barth as a society combining ethnic contrasts: the economic interdependence of those groups, and their ecological specialization (i.e., use of different environmental resources by each ethnic group). The ecological interdependence, or the lack of competition, between ethnic groups may be based on the different activities in the same region or on long–term occupation of different regions in the Defined by J S Furnivall as a medley of peoples - European, Chinese, Indian and , who do mix but do not combine. Each group holds by its own religion, its own culture and language, its own ideas and ways. As individuals they meet, but only in the marketplace in buying and selling. There is a plural society, with different sections of the community living side by side, within the same political unit.

During research about plural societies, Asim Ejaz, Student of M.phil Political Science in Islamia university bahawalpur, Pakistan, presented his analytical summary about the book of Arend Lijphart, "democracy in plural societies" that it is so much difficult to achieve and stable democratic government in plural society. As Aristotle says about stable governing system that, “a state aims at being, as far as it can be, a society composed of equal & peers”. For the stability of democratic regimes, there must be social homogeneity and political consensus among the deep social divisions, and, there must be termination of political differences. There are these criteria, because, the factors that help in producing instability and breakdown of democracies. Arend Lijphart, therefore, used a particular form of democracy, “Consociational Democracy”, which is, according to him, may be difficult but it is not at all impossible to achieve and maintain stable democratic government in plural societies.


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