Politics in Belgium from 1830 until 2025

Paperback

Product Detail

1

Publication Date

03 July 2025

ISBN-13

978-2-8004-1923-7

Product Content

Text (eye-readable), Figures, diagrams, charts, graphs, Maps and/or other cartographic content

Extent

Total numbered pages : 458

Legal Copyright Date

D2025/0171/14 Bruxelles, Belgium

Code

1923

Dimensions

16 x 24 x 2.6 cm

Weight

862 grams

ONIX XML

Version 2.1, Version 3

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Contents

Introduction

Chapter I - The Beginnings of the Belgian State
    A territory under trusteeship
    The union of the Northern and Southern provinces
    The advent of Belgium

Chapter II - 1830-1893: From Unionism to Bipartisan Confrontation, Liberals vs Catholics
    Unionism
        A striking industrial and economic development
        Asymmetrical unionism
    Catholics vs Liberals
        Liberal crystallisation
        Building the Catholic Party
    The language issue: the beginnings of the centre-periphery cleavage

Chapter III - 1893-1918: The Birth of a Multi-Party System
    The crystallisation of the socio-economic cleavage
    The rise of the socialist world: the Belgian Workers' Party - (Parti ouvrier belge-Belgische Werkliedenpartij, POB-BWP)
    Opening up the political system: the advent of universal male suffrage with plural voting
    1894: a political turning point
    The advent of proportional representation
    The beginnings of pillarisation in Belgium
        Changing the world: the socialist pillar
        At the service of God and His people: the Catholic pillar
    Shattering the absolute majority: the final convulsions of Catholic dominance
    Belgium, a colonial power
    The 1914-1918 war and its consequences

Chapter IV - 1919-1946: The Fall of the Catholic Party Hegemony and the Rise of a New Kind of Multiparty System
    Belgium's evolving status in post-World War I international relations
    Redefining industrial relations
    Towards linguistic equality?
    Changes in political life
        The development of the socialist pillar
        A new challenger: the Communist Party of Belgium (PCB-KPB)
        Farewell to Catholic hegemony
        The rise of the Flemish political movement: from the Frontpartij to the Vlaams Nationaal Verbond (VNV)
        Rediscovering Christ the King? The brief rise of Rex
        The new status of Belgian liberalism: a 'support’ party for Catholics
    Pre-war turmoil

Chapter V - 1944-1961: Fifteen Years of a Two-and-Half-Party System
    Is change always pursued for its intrinsic value?
        Changes in the social security system
        From the Catholic Bloc to the Parti social-chrétien-Christelijke Volkspartij (Social Christian Party)
        The aborted experiment of the Belgian Democratic Union
        From the Workers’ Party to the Belgian Socialist Party
        The Communist Party’s short-lived heyday
        The Liberal Party’s new role
    A long history of philosophical polarisation: from the Royal Question to the school wars
        The Royal Question
        Ruthless school wars
    The end of a colonial power

Chapter VI - The New Openness of the Party System
    The new salience of the socio-economic and linguistic cleavages
        From the winter strike of 1960-1961 to Flemish socio-economic predominance
        Two main languages, two countries?
    Liberal realignment: building a conservative party
    A delicate transition for the socialist movement
    The emergence of regional parties in Belgium: the Volksunie, the FDF, and the Rassemblement wallon
        From the Vlaamse Concentratie to the Volksunie
        From the PWT to the Rassemblement wallon
        Building the FDF
    Further broadening of the party system
        Communist schism and new demands
    Challenging a traditional pattern
        The 'Leuven Affair’, or the breakup of the PSC-CVP
        The implosion of the Liberal Family
        The new socialist path: uniting progressives?
    The first state reform
        Dissolution of the Rassemblement wallon
    From the failure of the Egmont Pact to the laws of August 1980
        The Volksunie is in turmoil
    Surfing the neoliberal wave
        Liberal comeback in the spotlight
        A Social Christian family under stress
    Further decentralisation: the long labour of the third reform of the state
        Socialist reorientation
    New cleavages, newcomers
        The short-lived UDRT-RAD
        The upsurge of green parties: Ecolo and Agalev
        Belgium through the prism of the new Radical Right
    Farewell to the Communist Party
    The existential questions of the Volksunie
    Repositioning the FDF
    The advent of federalism and the painful 1990s in Belgium

Chapter VII - Extreme Fragmentation, Extreme Governing Difficulty
    1999: a new rupture-election
    From missed opportunity to divine surprise: the evolution of the Flemish liberalism in the 1990s
    The foundations of a long-anticipated new era: the Francophone liberals
    An affected Social Christian world
    From heaven to hell? Socialists facing challenges
    The greens in government at last
    Major advances in new generation rights
    A fifth state reform
    Tribulations of Flemish political nationalism
    Mirage of bipolarism, explosion of multipartyism
    Farewell to Flemish political Catholicism?
        A sixth state reform by force
    The rise of a national, ethnocentric, and conservative party: the N-VA
        The false promise of Spirit
        The failure of the liberal sorpasso
    Vlaams Belang, like a phoenix
    The brief Dedecker phenomenon
    From sp.a to Vooruit: in search of lost socialism
    Flemish greens hit the glass ceiling: from Agalev to Groen
    Parti socialiste: farewell to dominance
    Ecolo: off the rollercoaster
    MR: the quest for the top spot
    DéFI: in search of an identity
    Failing of the French-speaking Radical Right
        The elusive horizon of the Parti populaire
    The uncertain future of the Centre démocrate humaniste and the surge of Les Engagés
    Radical Left resurgence: PTB-PVDA back in the game

Chapter VII - Contemporary Changes in the Regime and Political System
    The fragmentation of the political system in Belgium
    Changes in electoral behaviour
    Institutional constraints
        The law on the state funding of political parties
        Repeated changes in electoral law
        The road to parity and diversity
    The federal state, changes in parliamentary representation, and the impact on parties
        A stalled negotiation process
        Party leaders, more and less powerful
        A new type of party: organisational changes in the world of political parties
        Changes in institutional constraints
        Personalisation and acceleration of communication time
    The diminishing role of monarchy

Bibliography