Real and ‘Virtual’ Elements of Power Sharing in the Post-Soviet Space: the Case of the Gagauzian Autonomy
Publisher: ECMI Volume: 22 pages, pdf Description: The Gagauzian autonomy illustrates some of the challenges of elaborating and implementing autonomy provisions in the context of fledgling democratic institutions and weak systems of rule of law. The article starts with a brief discussion of power sharing and the effects that power-sharing arrangements allegedly have on efforts to mitigate interethnic tensions and promote democracy in post-conflict states. It then turns to discussing how an agreement on autonomy arrangements, which was hailed at the time of its 1994 adoption as a rare example of the successful regulation of ethnoterritorial tensions in the post-Soviet space, was translated into a set of specific norms and practices.