consociation

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
consociation/kɒnsəʊʃɪˈeɪʃ(ə)n/

▶noun

• 1 a political system formed by the cooperation of different social groups on the basis of shared power.

  ■ dated close association or fellowship.

• 2 Ecology a small climax community of plants having a characteristic dominant species.

– derivatives
consociational adjective,
consociationalism noun.

– origin C16: from L. consociatio(n-), from consociare, from con- ‘together’ + sociare ‘to associate’ (from socius ‘fellow’).