Party Leadership, Ethnicity and Political Clientelism in Consociational Democracies

A consociational democracy is designed in a way that allows a government by an ‘elite cartel’ who are mandated to promote political stability. Much of the power-sharing literature ignores how the 'elite cartel' is created and is often criticised for entrenching political clientelism and other democratic wanes as in Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia or the Post-Ohrid Macedonia and Suriname. This panel therefore welcomes contributions on party leadership, ethnic capture including the roles of the ethnic intermediaries, and political clientelism by demonstrating how the ‘ethnic group’ remains an important mechanism in rallying ‘interest’ while opposing other groups whether professional or economic.