Minority Veto Rights in Kosovo’s Democracy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17561/tahrj.n12.8Keywords:
Kosovo, Constitution, Minority, Veto Rights, Consociational Democracy, Sharing PowerAbstract
The political system of Kosovo belongs to the power sharing democracies. Indeed, it has all the characteristics of Consociational Democracy. In addition to that, minority veto rights are absolute and go above the aims of this type of democracy. As it is designed in current Constitutional arrangements, even a single word of Constitution can’t be changed without minorities’ vote. This is different from other Consociational Democracies, where minorities are entitled with selected veto power only regarding their vital interests, but they cannot block constitutional decision-making. Since Kosovo is among the youngest countries worldwide, this constitutional provision can be a heavy obstacle even in the state building efforts of majority. Therefore, in this article we will try to explain in depth this constitutional arrangement versus principles of sharing power systems and versus similar democracies in the region and wider. The doctrinal constitutional interpretation, descriptive and comparative methods are the main pillars of research methodology.
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