However, as Lijphart himself is well aware, we Wnd consociational political institutions
in ‘‘divided societies,’’ as he puts it—those divided for example, by ethnic or
religious cleavages (1969). These divisions are the historical reason for various sorts
of veto powers for minorities. Consequently, it may not be the political institutions
that result in the kinder, gentler democracies, but perhaps the ‘‘divided’’ societies that
have these sorts of political institutions may have also tended to develop integrative
social institutions of various types, precisely to overcome the divisions that led to
political blockages. This ‘‘chicken-and-egg’’ problem in institutional development is
often referred to as the problem of ‘‘endogeneity.’’