An Analysis of Consociational Democracy

Abstract

This is a formal analytical assessment of Arend Lijphart's argument in The Politics of Accommodation that the structure of politics found in the Netherlands results in accommodation among elites and in democratic stability. The analysis leads to the conclusion that accommodation and stability will result only under certain specific conditions; one of these is a decrease over time in the number of political problems to be solved, and another is a moderation in the views of the various groups.