How do social divisions affect politics? Give two examples.

Social divisions affect politics in the following way:
(i) In a democracy, there is competition among political parties to win elections and form government. Their object is to gain political power. The competition among political parties divides the society. Already existing social divisions may become political divisions and lead to conflicts, violence or even disintegration of a country’
(ii) Elections are fought on the basis of’ social divisions. Parties seek votes and support of social divisions at the time of elections. Candidates are selected on the basis of social divisions in a constituency to attract maximum voters. A Muslim or Hindu fights election in a Muslim or Hindu dominated constituency. Parties too try to attract votes on the basis of social divisions’ For example, Bahujan Samaj Party seeks the votes of Dalits in India. Its base is Dalit vote bank.
(iii) In Northern Ireland 53 per cent are Protestants and 44 per cent Roman Catholics. The Catholics were represented by the Nationalist parties who demanded the Northern Ireland be unified with the Republic of Ireland. On the other hand Protestants were represented by unionists who were in favour of remaining with the Uk This led to violent conflicts and ultimately in 1998, the UK government and the Nationalists reached a peace treaty.
(iv) In Yugoslavia, combination of political and social divisions led to disintegration’ Thus, social divisions affect politics and may have disastrous consequences’ Thus it may be concluded that the politics and social divisions must not be allowed to mix’ Social divisions must never be expressed in politics