A potentially beneficial conflict management tool, post-conflict power-sharing is often marred by political crises and instability. We explore the link between power-sharing 'adoptability' and functionality. Focusing on Iraq, we demonstrate that weak adoptability (when one of more groups have grave reservations about the settlement) harms power-sharing in several important ways. First, weak adoptability by the Sunni community led to their exclusion and mobilisation against the state. Second, weak adoptability provided political space for Shiites to dominate in politics, undermining the very basis of post-conflict power-sharing. Third, weak adoptability further compounded constitutional contestation, leading to the Kurdish independence referendum in 2017.

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This article revisits the concept of semi-consociational democracy and distinguishes it from full consociationalism. Semi-consociationalism features just two of the characteristics of full consociationalism, proportionality and segmental autonomy, and exists without strong grand coalitions and veto powers. The case studies of prewar Lebanon and post-invasion Iraq demonstrate this new category of power sharing, which relies on three conditions: concentration of executive powers in the presidential office (prewar Lebanon) or premiership (post-invasion Iraq), communal hegemony in the system, and communal control over the armed forces. Full consociationalism then is mistakenly blamed for democratic failure in these two case studies.

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