Contenu du sommaire : La Belgique

Does Belgium Exist ?
Belgium was created in 1830 and developed gradually as a nation state. Such a situation could have lasted if it were not for the growth of the Flemish movement, which remained restrained for some time but then was sanctioned in the institutional arrangements. The setting up of a Federal state since 1970 has prolonged this evolution. In view of the emergence of a Flemish nation, the preservation of the Belgium state requires that its political leaders manage to draft a new “agreement of the Belgian people”.

Is Belgian Consociational Federalism a Vector of Instability ?
The success of the Flemish nationalist parties in the Federal elections of June 2010, following three years of major political crisis, leads the author to wonder whether the Belgian model of federalism and consensus has entered a terminal crisis. The article analyzes the core of the consensus machinery by looking at the theory of Consociational democracy which has by and large been institutionalized in Belgium. Then he raises the following question : is it the system that has ceased to function or can the problems be at least partly explained by the Consociational logic itself ?

The Linguistic Question in Belgium in Historical Perspective
Belgium is an excellent socio-linguistic laboratory. From the nineteenth century onward, French has not only been the spoken language of the Walloon region but also the language of the Belgian élite. The founders of the Belgian state chose it as the dominant language of Belgian public life and the Dutch language, spoken in Flanders, was given an inferior social status. Any form of equivalence between the two languages was rejected. The strategy of the Flemish movement consisted, at first, in gaining legal protection for their language in Flanders. As the French-speaking people refused straightforward bilingualism, it was decided in 1932 that territoriality would become the alternative for both communities. The Dutch-speaking people wanted to be protected by secure linguistic boundaries. But in the borderland municipalities where the speakers of the “prestigious” language have strong numbers they demand linguistic rights. In the capital, the meeting place of the two communities where the Dutch-speaking people represent a minority, they too demand an equivalent recognition of their language. To this day, the strategies of the two communities have followed divergent paths.

History of a Cursed Legislature. Reflexions on the Political Instability of Belgium
The question of government instability is analyzed through an account of the successive crises that have affected the 2007-10 Legislature. For six months, it proved impossible to form a government because of the deep differences between the French-speaking and Flemish groups regarding state reform. In the North of the country a strengthening of Federalism was strongly desired while in the South the temptation to maintain the existing status quo predominated. In the following months, on several occasions this dispute further undermined the government and eventually led to its fall in April 2010. Political instability is therefore not inherent in the Belgian political system, but rather the consequence of the lack of a national consensus about the evolution of the institutions.

The King
Keeping in mind the still very active role of the monarchy in Belgium, the article successively analyzes the causes, the nature, the modalities and the limits of the exceptional persistence of the royal function within the political system ; it also highlights the relationship between this peculiarity and the crucial crisis experienced by the nation state.

Belgium between Compromise and Ambiguity
Belgium is proud of its sense of compromise that has allowed it to overcome serious crises. But lately it has found it difficult to reach an agreement regarding a new reform of the state and it is still stumbling over linguistic differences. Nowadays, it seems that the Belgian compromises, because of their ambiguities, are as much factors of stability as of instability. But nobody knows how to clear up these ambiguities to the benefit of all.

Brussels-Hal-Vilvorde : Crown of Thorns of the Belgian Federal State ?
The author reconstructs the elements of the political crisis provoked by the electoral district of Brussels-Hal-Vilvorde. He examines the realities concealed by this name, the way they have been recognized by Belgian positive law, the reason why this district has become the object of a major political crisis and the stakes of the current debate. To conclude, the author wonders whether this crisis can or cannot be resolved.

The Belgian Melting Pot
For a long time a land of “exemplary hybridity”, Belgium has been caught up by an ethno-cultural nationalism that is leading Flanders' political leaders to call for the “dissipation” of the country. This is a tough lesson for the European Community that is witnessing one of its founding countries question certain principles of its own project. What is at stake in the Belgian crisis is the notion of consensus, mutual tolerance and cultural co-existence.

Brussels as Capital of Alterity
Originally, Brussels was a Flemish city. As it became the capital of Belgium, it was gradually Frenchified and so was its periphery. The Flemish people then feared that this Frenchification would intensify and they obtained the recognition of clear linguistic boundaries. Brussels found itself caught into a territorial straitjacket that does not correspond to its sociological reality. The city-region, five times capital, has become a target for reconquest by the Flemish community, a factor of indifference for the Walloons and a paradoxical place, a capital of numerous alterities, which is both one of the causes of the Belgian crisis and an element of explanation for the durability of the country.