The politics of Belgium

List of Figures and Tables

List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

1. Why Belgium?

Who needs Belgium?

Consociational democracy

Some kind of federal state

Trust and support

Plan of the book

2. A Short Political History

Union and separation of the Low Countries

The weight of history

1830-1848: Consolidation and 'unionism'

1848-1893: The social question and the Flemish question

1893-1918: The right to vote

1918-1945: More consociationalism and territorial division

1945-1995: Towards a federal state

After 1995: The federation at work

Conclusions

3. Territorial Organization and Reorganization

The steps towards a federal solution

The distribution of powers

The institutions of the federal state

Financing the regions and communities

Dealing with conflicts

A peculiar federation

4. Political Parties

The political parties

Party organization

Party finance

Conclusions

5. Voting and Elections

The electoral system

Election results

Substate elections

Local elections

Conclusions

6. The Government

The procedure at the federal level

The role of the King

The procedure at the regional level

The mechanics of coalition formation

A difficult and lengthy process

The functioning of the government

The survival of the government

Governing at the local level

Conclusions

7. The Parliament

Two houses of the parliament

The legislative function

Controlling the government

The use of language

The members of parliament

The regional parliaments

Conclusions

8. Policymaking

The political parties again

Segmental autonomy or pillarization

The social partnership

The social security system

The economic structure

The economic policies of the regions

Conclusions

9. Belgium in the World

The world in Belgium

Belgium big in Africa

Belgium in Europe and Europe in Belgium

The substate level abroad

Between principles and reality

Conclusions

10. Still Belgium?

Two stories

Distrust at the top

The uneasy consociation

New institutions and capacity for decision-making

Still Belgium?

Bibliography

Index