Consociationalism

Where consociationalism and federalism overlay one another, moreover, the continuity of the latter depends on the stability of consociationalism.

Consociationalism has been described by its best-known proponent as a system of government based on a "cartel of elites."

The main weakness of consociationalism is that its main successful cases have taken place in Western Europe among groups that have not been in open military conflict with each other. It cannot be established that those societies would not have remained peaceful without consociationalism.