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Publicatie

Belgium

Boekbijdrage - Hoofdstuk

Ondertitel:federalism as a stopover?
Belgium is one of the few countries making the full move from a unitary to a federal state in a quarter-century (1970–1993). This transformation was to avoid the country falling apart due to linguistic tensions. Political deadlock required creative compromises to deblock the political situation, compromises building upon former decisions to split institutions, public opinion and the political elite along language groups. The downloading of competencies was meant to appease tensions, but this centrifugal tendency of self-rule actually fed the request for more self-rule. The federalization thus installed a dynamic it was actually meant to extinguish. Today, Belgium is a highly centrifugal competitive federation with minimal mechanisms of cooperation. The system that had gradually evolved as an answer to tensions among language groups became itself a problem. The structures, rules and procedures established made the language groups drift further apart, while no truly bridging structures, processes or mechanisms were established. More importantly, the structures, rules and procedures established turned Belgium into an ethnofederation, implying that every policy issue is dragged to the ethno-linguistic cleavage. This underlying logic is clearly visible in the structure and working of the federation, but especially in all its current problems.
Boek: Emerging federal structures in the Post-Cold War Era : federalism and internal conflicts / Keil, S. [edit.]; Kropp, S. [edit.]
Pagina's: 33 - 48
ISBN:978-3-030-93668-6
Jaar van publicatie:2022
Trefwoorden:H1 Book chapter
Toegankelijkheid:Closed