Introduction: Power-Sharing in the Global South

This chapter introduces the volume, discusses its key terms and case selection motivations, and summarizes the chapters that follow. The study of power-sharing systems in the Global South posed key challenges to the editors of this volume. There is a need to provide a conceptual clarification to the meaning both of “the Global South” and “power-sharing.” Further, there is a need to conceptualize power-sharing in the Global South. Finally, it is of vital importance to clarify to the reader the choice of the case studies that the editors have sought to include in this volume. The editors have opted to apply the notion of the “lifecycle approach” to the many faces of power-sharing in the Global South. Readers will be engaged with the adoptability, functionality, and durability question of power-sharing at different points in this edited book.