Formación de gobierno, democracia consensual y polarización de las elites: el caso vasco

Abstract

Does the democracy consensus-model survive in the Basque country? Taking as a base of the consociational democracy and its features, we wonder about the problems which arise in the constitution of the governments of this type of democracies, when the cleavages of the society become tight compartments and, at the same time, the positions of the political elite polarize. The proportional electoral system, the multiparty system and a political culture broken into fragments give us the specific variables of the societies with deep cleavages, which should need a consensus-model of democracy. But this way requires that the political elite and the social leaders have the will to maintain the cohesion of the system and to propitiate the necessary pacts in order to integrate to the different groups and to carry out government’s function. If this is not reached, the most probable result is the uncertainty or even the blockade, of the political life. On the other hand, the variable of the violence complicates the square when influencing in the government’s constitution, its strategies and possible alliances.