The adaptation of the electoral system to the ethno-linguistic evolution of Belgian consociationalism (original) (raw)
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American Political Science Review, 1987
Recensions I Reviews 439 never really exploited as one might hope. Ivor Crewe's essay on Britain is especially noteworthy for he effectively demolishes the argument that close relationships exist between British MPs and their constituents, and that this flows from the workings of the single-member plurality system. As similar arguments have been used to defend the Canadian system in recent years, a replication of Crewe's analysis with Canadian data would seem well worthwhile: it's a natural essay topic for a Canadian politics course. This presages what Bogdanor calls the book's negative central conclusion. He argues that the weight of these chapters is that "the electoral system is not a fundamental cause for variations in the focus of representation" and that "cultural factors are likely to be more important" (299). Electoral systems, it seems, are passive elements ("at least in stable societies"), background threads in the rich tapestry of political life. Grofman, Lijphart and their colleagues are not content to stand back and admire the large picture. Their work concentrates on tracing the individual threads, in some instances through new review essays, in others through new research on electoral institutions that have been largely ignored in previous literature. Unlike Bogdanor their general message is that detailed examination reveals electoral institutions to be fundamental to political behaviour. As Scarrow puts it at the end of a short piece on the rather specific phenomena of cross-endorsement and cross-filing, "experience... leaves little doubt that election laws may have profound consequences for the working of a political system" though these laws "may turn out to have unforeseen consequences, and even consequences which are precisely the opposite from those intended" (254). Redistricting, ballot format, local nonpartisan elections, and the length of electoral terms are only a few of the diverse issues that receive attention. Duverger on himself, political geographers on their discipline, and Sartori on rules and laws in political science are only a few of the approaches. It is this diversity that is at once the book's strength and its weakness. Unlike Bogdanor the editors come to no general conclusion, hence no concluding chapter. We are left to assume that the individual essays collectively establish the case that their assumption about the importance of electoral institutions has been sustained. But exactly what the political consequences of electoral laws are, or how we might systematically think about them and their relationship to other institutional or noninstitutional variables is never very clearly laid out. Despite these criticisms, or those that might be launched at any of the 37 essays, these books make an important contribution. That their conclusions point in different directions is only partially a matter of focus and analytic style. It also indicates there is much hard, clear thinking to be done on the subject. Both books help restore the discipline's focus on political institutions, and they reveal that by broadening traditional questions and adopting new perspectives there is much yet to be learned about electoral laws and their political consequences.
Consociationalism in the Low Countries: Comparing the Dutch and Belgian Experience
Swiss Political Science Review, 2019
Despite their geographical proximity, common history, and joint experience with social segmentation, there is a surprising dearth of studies systematically comparing consociationalism in Belgium and the Netherlands. This paper aims to help fill that lacuna by discussing the similarities and differences between the two countries in this respect. The similarities range from the time period of consociationalism, the original cleavage structure, to the existence of cross-pressures at the organizational level. The most important difference is that geography always played a bigger role in Belgium. This was true even before the politicization of the language divide, but it also explains why Belgium entered a new phase of consociationalism after depillarization and the Netherlands did not. Both countries currently face challenges by anti-establishment parties against the elite cartel, which raises questions whether this is not inherent to consociationalism once the original social segmentation has eroded.
According to the " Waffle " model of the Belgian Linguistic Conflict (Klein et al., 2012), this conflict centres around two main dimensions: One concerns the use of language across the territory and the second concerns the distribution of resources between the two main linguistic communities, Dutch-speakers and French-speakers. The model suggests that the two groups adhere to different justice principles regarding these issues and that these disagreements are a function of the intensity of the conflict. With respect to the first dimension, Dutch-speakers are expected to adhere more to a principle of linguistic territoriality than French-speakers who should be more in favor of a free choice of one's idiom across the territory. With respect to the second dimension, the model posits that Dutch-speakers will adhere more to an equity principle whereas French-speakers should adhere more to a need principle. We tested these hypotheses in the context of a large-scale survey involving two waves: in May 2011 in the middle of a political crisis, and in June 2014, when the conflict was appeased. The pattern of " disagreements " in a subsample that participated in both waves of the survey (N = 378) is consistent with the Waffle model and, as expected, more severe at the heart of the conflict (in 2011) than after pacification (in 2014). However, differences were driven mostly by supporters of the Flemish nationalist party N-VA. Moreover, endorsement of principles on both dimensions are predictive of separatist attitudes in the Dutch-speaking sample whereas only the first dimension plays a role for the French speaking sample.
One nation, one language? The case of Belgium
In this article the linguistic situation in Belgium and its historical development is discussed. The country has often been called a role model for the linguistic future of Europe because of its alleged success in granting equal rights to its French and Dutch language communities while preserving political unity. This paper, however, argues that Belgium is an example of a European region where the struggle for linguistic rights led from the establishment of monolingual territories (Flanders and Wallonia), to an opposition to individual bilingualism and fi nally to communicative ‘isolation’ of its language communities. This claim is based on a critical account of language use in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Flanders and of language ideologies in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Belgium.
Belgium: linguistic communalism, bureaucratisation and democratisation
VERHOEVEN, J. C. (1982) 'Belgium: linguistic communalism, bureaucratisation and democratisation.' in: DAALDER, H., E. SHILS & eds. Universities, Politicians and Bureaucrats. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press pp. 125-171 , 1982
When a wave of student agitation swept through the Western European universities in 1968 and 1969, Belgium did not escape. Fights with the police and the occupation of university buildings were familiar sights at some of the Belgian universities. Although this agitation had to a large extent the same objectives as in the neighbouring countries, namely the `democratisation of the universities', one element was different: in Lou¬vain, the Flemish students supported and encouraged by the Flemish teachers protested against the presence of a French-speaking university in the Flemish town; they also opposed the amalgamation of the Flemish and Walloonian sections of the university under a single university govern-ment. This chapter describes the situation of the Belgian universities during the student revolts in the 1960s, and the policy of the government, universities and students searching for a solution for the fierce opposition of students against the traditional university.
Communautairy Problems: An Argumentative Analysis of the Belgian Political Crisis
MaRBLe
In 2011, Belgium broke the world record for longest time without a government. 249 days had passed since the 2010 elections, and still the victorious parties -the New-Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and the Socialist Party (PS) -had not succeeded in the formation of a new government. This paper presents an argumentative analysis of the above political crisis. It seeks to clarify this crisis by means of mapping the most important arguments presented, so that the argumentative bottlenecks may be identified and analyzed. The arguments and claims examined in this paper are those of the N-VA; a nationalist Flemish party. The reason for focusing on the N-VA is that the political deadlock that can be identified as the cause for the relevant crisis stemmed from one of their party goals; namely to transfer authority from the federal government to the regions of Flanders and Wallonia, so effectively separating the two politically. By focusing on this argument, it is investigated what the different premises are and whether these are legitimate. Eventually, this culminates in a final judgment as to whether the N-VA's argument is sound. MaRBLe Research Papers 132 On April 22 nd 2010, then prime-minister Yves Leterme offered his resignation to King Albert II after the federal government had fallen over the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde issue. 6 After King Albert II had accepted Leterme's resignation, new elections were held on June 13 th 2010. The outcome was a convincing victory for the Flemish N-VA and the Walloon PS.
The Crisis of Belgian Federalism
When a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves, and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes'.