Une république des Camarades? Selectie van ministers in het tussenoorlogse België

In the interwar period (1918-1940), Belgian governments were often criticized for being both composed and populated by a very restraint group of elite figures. This article tries to uncover the social profile of the interwar ministers in the Belgian cabinets. Their profile seems to be remarkably homogeneous, with a total dominance of male quinquagenarians with a high educational (law) degree. Since the access to get such an academic degree was restricted (among others, due to the high cost), this says a lot about the social background of these cabinet members. Furthermore, the urban areas of Brussels and Liège were traditionally overrepresented in the attribution of ministerial mandates. This strong discrepancy between social democratization on the one hand and a remarkable continuity with the composition of nineteenth century governments on the other hand was a significant cause for the yawning gap between citizens and politicians in the thirties.

Publication year:2014

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Authors from:Higher Education

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