The outcome of the November-December 2014 elections in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)—where the People’s Democratic Party, backed by the Muslim-majority Srinagar Valley and the Bharatiya Janata Party won 28 and 25 seats respectively out of 87—was their surprising decision to form a “governance alliance”. Equally unexpected was the Afghan unity government strung together in September 2014 by the U.S. comprising Abdullah Abdullah, popular among the Hazara Shia community and Ashraf Ghani, backed by the Pashtun Sunni community.
Both are part of an emerging global trend in coalition-formation. An entrenching of representative democracy and the growth of social media has provided a voice to populations diversified along ideological, religious and ethnic lines, and encouraged their multiple representatives to rule.