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The thesis offers a critique on consociationalism as a method of ethnic integration. It tests two crucial-cases, Belgium and Canada, which are widely considered as successful consociational cases in the literature. This thesis attempts to demonstrate that internal factors of consociational systems can often become cause of further ethnic fragmentation instead of limiting it. Further, it argues that once consociational institutions are in place, separatist tendencies of ethnic groups are likely to persist. It concludes that states should not put such institutions in place to begin with, because there is little or even nothing to do later to fix the problems they created.

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Born in Brussels in 1982, Adrien S. Elleboudt achieved an MAin International Relations and European Studies from the CentralEuropean University of Budapest, in 2007. Before that, he graduatedin Political Science from the Catholic University of Louvain, inBelgium.

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The thesis offers a critique on consociationalism as a methodof ethnic integration. It tests two crucial-cases, Belgium andCanada, which are widely considered as successful consociationalcases in the literature. This thesis attempts to demonstrate thatinternal factors of consociational systems can often become causeof further ethnic fragmentation instead of limiting it. Further, itargues that once consociational institutions are in place,separatist tendencies of ethnic groups are likely to persist. Itconcludes that states should not put such institutions in place tobegin with, because there is little or even nothing to do later tofix the problems they created.

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