ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 details the contemporary constitutional settlements, which are still evolving in some cases, using the federal debate to draw out the underpinnings of change and its parameters. It confirms the continued salience of secession risk and infrastructural capacity and expands in some detail on the alliances formed and necessary for achieving a genuine federalism, as compared to the quasi-federalism that each has institutionalised, without success, in the past. First, the chapter reformulates the key actors and briefly details the relevant constitutional change processes around which that alliance operates. Although there is a modern-day emphasis on participatory processes, these processes are primarily elitist though involving ethnic elites and an important deliberative democracy dimension. Chapter 6 considers in more detail the way that risks of secession and the oppression of ‘second order minorities’ are mitigated through institutional design and federalism compromises, such as the trade-offs between autonomy and inclusion, and the role of democracy and other control variables in framing the possible and prospective positions taken in each case. This leads into an exploration of the lessons for ethnic accommodation and moderation that the federalisation of Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka provide.
