bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
De autonome keuze van de parlementsleden door de kiezers : Een quasi-experiment
Authors: Dewachter Wilfried
Published: July 2021

The Belgian electorate has the possibility not only to decide on the number of seats for the different parties, but also to appoint the members of parliament. By making insufficient use of the preferential vote, the electorale however denies itself the power to choose members of parliament. In a quasi-experiment the difference in the selection of members by the political parties and by the electorale is examined for the period 1949-1987. The Difference is small, tending to lower the more the electorate use the preferential vote, which is the key to that autonomous selection. A puzzling result, which can be understood taking into account that the growth of the preferential vote is nearly exclusively given to or attrackted by the candidates leading the party lists. A striking illustration of the difficult emancipation of the electorate.
De provincieraadsverkiezingen van 13 december 1987
Authors: Toelen Danny
Published: July 2021

At the provincial council elections of the 13th of december 1987 only one of the three traditional political  families made a general progress, namely the socialists. Mainly in Wallonia the socialists improved their position seriously. In this part of the country they are the only and absolute winners of these provincial elections. The christian-democrats and the liberals were subject of a severe decline. Por the christian-democrats this decline was mainly situated in Flanders. The liberals had a serious decline in W allonia, that couldn't be counterbalanced by the small progress they made in Flanders. The ecologists made progress, mostly in the Flemish part of the country and in Brussels. By the federalist parties the Volksunie had a loss of three provincial council seats in Flanders, but the seperatistic and extreme right party Vlaams Blok won two seats. The communists disappeared totally from the provincial councils in Belgium. The results of the provincial council elections had a similar profile as these of the House of Representatives and the Senate which where held at the same day.
De verhouding ACV-ABVV in de jaren 1970-1985
Authors: Houthuys Jef
Published: July 2021

Trade Union Mouvement in Belgium has never been an enduring structured entity. In pluralistic political systems, trade unions develop rather pragmatic relations and act as competitors. Economic recession determined the trade union strategy in the seventies : focus of the policy switches towards employment (instead of income and wages). ABVV (socialist trade union) and ACV (Chrisian trade union) cultivated different viewpoints concerning the solution of crisis, which resulted in a tense relationship.In the early eighties, relations sunk to the ultimate point of rare contacts, none or few common statements and many accusations.  From 1982 on, cooperation grew again: contacts intensified and common actions got higher frequency again.
Een vaderland om te beminnen ?: Het nationale bewustzijn van Vlaamse laatstejaarsscholieren
Authors: Maddens Bart
Published: July 2021

The political socialization of a sense of national belonging is problematic in a socio-political environment where children are confronted with multiple national identities. A survey was administered to a diversified sample of 1000 Flemish secondary school pupils, aged 17-18. The data show that most Flemish preadults,when asked, hesitate between the Flemish and the Belgian identity, which they moreover hardly consider as contradictory. This lack of a single evident fatherland somehow results in an absence of genuine patriotism. Significant in this respect is the fact that identification with the local community takes preference over allegiance to the nation. In addition, Flemish youth adopt a low-profile attitude towards both Flanders and Belgium. The political socialization process apparently does not effect an emotional attachment to either the Flemish or the Belgian political system . Obviously, respondents who vote fora Flemish-nationalistic party,or whose parents do so, tend to prefer the Flemish identity.
Politieke betrokkenheid en activiteit in Nederland 1973-1986
Authors: Castenmiller Peter , Dekker Paul
Published: July 2021

In 1985 Cleymans showed in this journal that politica! participation in Belgium did not differ much from what was found in international research in other European countries. In this article some pieces of "conventional wisdom" in the international literature about structure and selectivity of political participation are questioned with Dutch data. Furthermore, information about participation in the Netherlands is important in itself. As neighbouring countries with close connections and interrelated histories, Belgium and Holland certainly deserve more attention as objects for comparative study.  In a range of ten activities from trying to contact politicians to joining a demonstration it seems to make less and less sense to look for a polarity of conventional and unconventional participation in the Netherlands. The overall political participation since 1973 appears to remain at the same level. This finding questions popular beliefs about shifts from a rebellious beginning of the seventies to a quiet period in the second half of that decade to spectacular outbursts of unconventional political behaviour at the beginning of the eighties (new social movements) and resulting in political apathy at the moment. On a macro-level the stability of participation seems to be combined with a constant or slowly rising passive political involvement. Political involvement and participation in the 1980'sare still related with individual and social background characteristics as education, sex, age, involvement in the Labour force and religion. However, relationships are not very strong in the 1980's. Following political participation of some social categories in the 1973-1986 period, it appeared that education and leftright-selfrating are of most and possibly still growing importance. Besides the higher educated and leftisht people, public employees are the "big participators" during all the years. Students evidently lose position. The gap between the sexes seems to disappear. Whereas in Belgium working outside the home does not seem to be a factor that stimulates the participation of wamen, in the Netherlands it seems to be of an utmost importance.It turns out that there are similarities and differences in political involvement and participation between Belgium and the Netherlands. Same differences may result from the fact that Cleymans used data of 1975, whereas we used data until 1986. It is clear, however, that there have been developments in the structure andselectivity of participation in the Netherlands and it would be interesting to have more recent comparative information about Belgium.
Politieke aliënatie en parlementaire hervormingen
Authors: Dierickx Guido
Published: July 2021

Most attempts at parliamentary reform in Belgium are prompted by the desire to support a Parliament which is being marginalized by political actors such as the government and the parties. These efforts are inspired by traditional constitutional thinking. Initially parliaments were designed as democratie bodies which should challenge the aristocratie government. Nowadays, parliament has quite another function. It has to facilitate the political information and to counteract the incompetence (and alienation) of citizens who are willing but unable to participate in an increasingly complex political system.Reform should aim at restoring the significance ofpublic debates in parliament.In order to be informative these debates should focus on important issues of the political agenda and catch the attention of the general public. Within the constraints of our political system it should be possible to upgrade the early debates on budget allocations and the late debates on the evaluation of public policy effectiveness.
Belgian politics in 1989
Authors: Couttenier Ivan
Published: July 2021

The center-left Martens VIII cabinet, which had taken office in May 1988 following the longest political cricis in Belgian history, continued in 1989 implementation of its constitutional reform program. The European elections had no domestic impact, but during the campaign the focus was once again on the burning immigration issue. Meanwhile, abortion liberalization caused tension inside the majority. In foreign affairs, the focus was on normalization of relations with Zaire.
Les politiques budgétaires de la Région wallonne et de la Communauté française
Authors: Dawance Jean-Pierre
Published: July 2021

This paper aims to determine the major axes of the economic policy implemented by the Walloon Region since it acquired significant powers in january 1989. A brief summary of the mechanisms introduced by the Special Financing Law demonstrates how much federal entities suffer from financial constraints imposed by the budgetary sourcing from the National Government. As a result the resources made available are lower than 1988 expenditure on items which have since been 'federalized". The balance will have to be financed by Regional borrowing.We discuss several budgetary policies scenarios and their effects. The Walloon Region has chosen a middle way between two extremes. It has avoided an unchanged expenditure policy, which would have led to an undesirable increase in the debt of the Region, followed by a chronic budgetary shortage. neither has it introduced an excessively strict policy - obtaining a balanced budget by 1996 would have meant a 20% cut in current expenditures. The Walloon Region has opted for a policy of distributing growth between the present and the future by accepting a reasonable level of debt with borrowing limited to the financing of investments which increase the Region's earning assets.When it comes to the budgetary policy of the French Community, we confine ourselves to a brief presentation of the budget because of uncertainty about how it will be made up.
De repressie en de politieke agenda : September 1944 - november 1952
Authors: Huyse Luc
Published: July 2021

From September 1944 on the military courts that handled matters of wartime collaboration had to scrutinize 350. 000 charges and prosecute 57. 000 suspects white political authorities, parties, the media and public opinion kept a close watch. The aim of this article is to study the place the issue of the purge of the Belgian collaborators took on the political agenda of that time. It was found that the topic in question seldom received a top priority position and that when it attracted major attention interests outside the issue of the purge itself (such as the reconstruction of the economy or the reshuffling of a government) were at stake.
Parlementsleden over het parlement en hun taak : Onderzoek van gepercipieerde en gepropageerde beelden inzake het parlement bij de Vlaamse Kamerleden van 1977 tot 1987
Authors: Weckx Peter
Published: July 2021

This article focuses on opinions of 185 Flemish members of Parliament on the functioning of Parliament, the position of Parliament in the decision making process and their task as a member of Parliament. For that purpose, members of Parliament were not interviewed, hut other sources were used, such as (daily and weekly) papers, papers of political parties and parliamentary documents.  They all were situated in the period 1977-1987.The study shows that members of Parliament do not wish to affect a revaluation of Parliament because of different opinions of opposition and majority members conceming its position in the decision making process. Nevertheless, they extensively discussed this theme. In this way they want to express their concern for the functioning of parliamentary democracy, in which Parliament constitutionally is focused in the center.
Belgian politics in 1990
Authors: Couttenier Ivan
Published: July 2021

In 1990, Belgium's domestic political agenda was overshadowed by international events. Developments in Zaire, Rwanda and especially in the Gulf often forced Belgian political leaders to set aside their domestic preoccupations. On the pending constitutional reform issues no substantial progress was made. At the end of 1990, many bills dealing with economic issues awaited parliamentary approval. In the fall, labor and management reached a nationwide inter-industry collective bargaining agreement and a new pension bill was adopted by Parliaiment.
Beeldvorming van het politieke bedrijf via de openbare omroep : Inhoudsanalyse van de politieke verslaggeving in het BRTn-televisie journaal in de periode 1982-1991
Authors: Goyvaerts Peter
Published: July 2021

The image-building of the political system through the public broadcasting corporation BRTn is analysed on the base of a content analysis of the political information in the television news during the period 1982-1991. The study shows that political coverage in the public television news is subject to actualisation, fragmentation, personifying, dramatisation and the introduction of entertainment-techniques. Political items are transferred to the back of the newsbroadcast and there is less room for interpretation of the facts. Journalists point out that the attention for politics has diminished because the audience is less interested.  However it is very likely that this is the result of the fact that the audience is uniformed because of the lack of information. In that way we enter a vicious circle that can only be broken through the media themselves. In order to achieve this, television shoud bring more interpretation and explanation of the facts.  A parliamentary feature, incorporated in a current alfairs programme could attribute to this, but can do no miracles when commercial tendencies become stronger in the news itself.
The termination of coalitions in Belgium
Authors: Deschouwer Kris
Published: July 2021

Coalitions have a limited life-span. There has been quite some research on the duration of coalitions and on the factors explaining variations in duration. But there is so far no solid theory on the mechanics of the termination of coalitions.This article gives an overview of the mechanics of termination in Belgian politics. By using the contextual approach (Pridham), that has originally been produced to analyse coalition formation, this overview might be a first step in the construction of a comparative explanatory model. The historical context, the institutional setting, the international context and the economical situation are described as elements that affect the termination of coalitions. The Belgian ethno-linguistic cleavage proves to be a very effective coalition-killer.
La sécurité collective : chimère, éphémère ou mutante ?
Authors: Türsan Huri
Published: July 2021

The joint international action against Iraq and the search for a new security doctrine following the end of the Cold War, led, in the early '90s, to a revival of the notion of collective security embodied in several international agreements. This notion is based on the assumption of responding collectively to international aggression. However, the international guagmires of recent years and especially the case of former Yugoslavia where international organizations have played the role of alibi to agression, has once more, dealt a major blow to the illusion of the implementation of the principles of collective security. In a way similar to the 1930s and the bipolar balance of power of the Cold War, collective security seems ephemeral today. We can therefore safelypredict that in the foreseeable future, international relations wilt continue to be shaped by the balance of specific state interests and not by universally applied principles of collective security.
Hoe zwart is Vlaanderen ? : Een exploratief onderzoek naar uiterst-rechtse denkbeelden in Vlaanderen in 1991
Authors: De Witte Hans , Billiet Jaak , Scheepers Peer
Published: July 2021

On the basis of the research literature, five aspects of the extreme right-wing ideology were distinguished : racism, extreme ethnic nationalism, the preference for a strong leadership, anti-parliamentarianism, and an anti-left attitude. The data of a postal survey in the spring of 1991 of a representative sample of the Flemish population in Belgium show that the items with which these extreme right-wing topics were operationalized show a one dimensional structure. About 10% to 25% of the interviewees agree with the individual items and about 20% of the subjects scored on the extreme right-wing side of the scale.  The 'hardcore' of extreme right-wing respondents is, however, much smaller (about 1% to 2%), and does not seem to be higher in Flanders than in most of the surrounding countries. The right-wing extremism scale developed correlates as expected with a previously developed typology that integrates the attitude with respect to autochthons and allochthons.  The analysis confirms that the voters for the Vlaams Blok - taken as a whole - may not be considered right-wing extremists, as suggested by previous research. Right-wing extremism correlates with a large number of attitudes and seems to be embedded in the broader opinion dimension of socio-cultural conservatism. This may also explain why it is associated primarily with the age, educational level, and religiosity of the respondents.
Relativiteit en succes van een Europees voorzitterschap : Het Belgisch voorzitterschap van naderbij bekeken
Authors: Beyers Jan , Kerremans Bart
Published: July 2021

The Belgian Presidency is generally seen as being a success. On many difficult questions, the Belgians succeeded in forging compromises between the member states. There is a risk however, that the apparent successes of this Presidency will lead to an over-estimation of the role which a EU-president can play. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to its limits and possibilities. It can help to relativize the Belgian presidency and to improve insights into the potential role of EU-presidents within the decision-making of the European Union.
Démocratie directe : Un moyen pour remédier aux défauts fonctionnels de la démocratie représentative ?
Authors: Möckli Silvano
Published: July 2021

Devices of direct democracy are an important structural element in Switzerland's political system. In this article, institutions and functions of Switzerland's direct democracy will be presented. Then the author will  pursue whether the direct democracy can be used as a device to prevent a dysfunctional parliamentary system of government. He comes to the conclusion that Switzerland's direct democracy is not an exportable good. We know from the Swiss experience that there is no single model that describes how initiatives and referendums function in every state.
De profilering van Luc Van Den Brande : Kroniek van het politieke leven in Vlaanderen in 1993
Authors: Tastenhoye Guido
Published: July 2021

The year 1993 in Flanders wilt be remembered as the year in which the Flemish prime minister, Luc Van den Brande, builds himself a very sharp profile.  He very explicitly occupies the new domains on which the Flemish authorities can now decide on their own policy. He clearly defends the economical interests of Flanders, even if this leads to conflicts with French-speaking Belgians and/or with unitarist Belgians. Van den Brande launches his project for thefuture ("Flanders-Europe 2002'') and promotes Flanders as a good place for economical investments. Within his own party, the CVP, he counterbalances the weight of the federal prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene.
L'identité Wallonne saisie par l'enquête : Une approche constructiviste de l'identité collective
Authors: Jacquemain Marc , Doutrelepont René , Vandekeere Michel
Published: July 2021

At first view, the methodology of survey research may seem rather unsuitable to the study of such "holistic" phenomena as collective and social identities.  That difficulty vanishes - at least partly - as soon as we consider social identity as the link between the individual and his belongings, as does the "social identity theory", developed from the work of Taffel and Turner.  From there on, survey research may prove to be a useful device to cope with some main characteristics of social identity: mainly its variability among groups and classes within a same society and its particular sensitivity to socio-political contexts.  Survey research, combined with the social identity theory may help to test historical assumptions at a macro-social level. It may also give some ''flesh" and some additional realism to the micro-theories of social behaviour, which are too often limited by their conception of a strictly rational and interested agent.
De beperking van de wapenhandel : Een voorbeeld van beïnvloeding van de politieke agenda vanuit ontzuilde drukkingsgroepen
Authors: Vandeweyer Luc
Published: July 2021

In 1991, the Belgian government demissioned because of a dispute about armstrade to the Middle East between the french-speaking and the flemish parties of the majority. This was the result oft he agitation of pressure groups since the beginning of the seventies. They belong to the 'New Social Movements', motivated by post-material values. They developped a succesfull strategy to involve the 'old', pilarised pressure groups and the press. It proved that it was possible for non-pilarised pressure groups to influence the parliament and the government. Nevertheless, these pressure groups were only powerfull in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. This made it possible for the linguistic cleavage to intervene in a decisive way in this political process. It broke up the consensus necessary for the maintaining of the government. The differences in the configuration of the New Social Movements between north and south wilt also be a reason for further steps in the process of federalising the Belgian state.
De invloed van de milieubeweging op het milieubeleid : Neo-corporatisme of culturele vernieuwing ?
Authors: Hooghe Marc
Published: July 2021

An analysis of recent environmental legislation in Belgium (Flanders) shows that only small part of it originated from direct pressure by the environmental movement. Although in recent years environmental groups were admitted to a number of advisory committees, this did not really made them a more powerful politica!l orce. Four reasons can be given for this relative weakness: 1) like all new social movements, the movement bas a weak organisational structure; 2) it's focus is on local disturbances to the environment; 3) it's disruptive potential is limited, especially on the national level; 4) it has little format access to the decision making process. The main consequence of it's activities is an innovation of political culture. The movement is succesful in defining and constructing environmental problems, and forcing them on the public and political agenda, but it lacks the power to steer the decision making process on the issues it has created.
Les aides de la région wallonne à l'investissement après la réforme de 1992
Authors: Eggermont S. , Pagano G. , Tilman M.
Published: July 2021

In 1992, the Walloon Region modified its investment incentive legislation. The new legislation applies the notion of SME to any business employing up to 250 people and which turnover does not exceed 20 million ECU, and replaces the former interest subsidies and capital premiums by a grant calculated as a percentage of investment. According to the size of the business, the activity sector and the area, the maximum aid may vary from 13 to 21 %. The grant total percentage is calculated by summing up the percentage of aid obtained for five criteria under which job creation is by far the most important (up to 8 %).  The new legislation gives a partial answer to traditional criticisms against investment incentives. First of all it aims at reducing the risk of accelerated substitution of capital for Labour. Besides, it simplifies adminsitrative procedures and reduces the "sprinkling" (spreading of the available budget over a large number of business which makes the impact by investment project almost negligible). It should also reduce the risk of inefficient allocation of resources thatarises when grants go to loss-making entreprises. But the question of whether investment incentives actually increase the level of investment (effectiveness) remains largely unanswered. Evidence suggests that investment incentives might have contributed to attract foreign investments hut have little impact on thelevel of domestic investment. Nevertheless, as far as SMEs are concerned, public grants might contribute to increased investment not by reducing the cost or increasing the profitability of the project but rather by increasing the means available in the business.
Het laatste jaar van de Twaalf : de Europese Unie in 1994
Authors: Kerremans Bart
Published: July 2021

In view of the pessimism on the two EU presidencies (Greece and Germany) before 1994 and ofa number ofpolitica[ breakthroughs that has been reached during that year, one can say that the last year of the Tweve (since 1995 the EU consists of fifteen members) has been relatively succesful. It was a year in which the economic recession came to an end, in which the enlargement negotiations have been concluded, and in which the Europe Agreements entered into force.  At the same time, however, 1994 showed the first signs of future problems with which the enlarged EU wilt have to cope. The expected eastern and southern enlargements wilt necessitate institutional adaptations and wilt intensify the already bitter discussions on the EU's budget. At the same time, the EU wilt have to find ways to cape with rising unemployment. This will have to happen in a period during which the member states are having difficulties to fullfil the budgetary conditions of Maastricht. In other words, the difficult years are not yet over for the process of European integration.
Cold-War ideology : an apologetics for global ethnic conflict ?
Authors: C. Trundle Robert
Published: July 2021

Kant had a notion of our determined and freely-choosing behavior which illuminates basic assumptions of contemporary ideologies. A myopic embracement of only one or the other behavior has been superseded by a new entanglement which renders moot ordinary political classifications. Fascism had typically affirmed the radical freedom of an Uebermensch (Superman) as well as a superior race and racism; Marxist communism a radical determinism as well as inevitable class warfare. But during the Cold War, especially since the 1960s, there arose in open societies a virulent assimilation of the two ideologies. Understood as a species of the"New Left", the ideology has effectively combined name-calling ad hominem attacks of "racism" with"elite white classes" to politicize dialogue and to suppress objective pursuits of truth as well as to foster ethnic identity and provide an unprecedented apologetics for global conflict.
Een eenvoudig model van de vorming van Belgische federale regeringscoalities (1958-1991)
Authors: Willemé Peter
Published: July 2021

In this article a simpte model of Belgian government coalition formation is proposed. lts main advantages over the traditional game theoretical approach are, first, its dynamic nature (explicity linking the outcome of a new 'game' to the characteristics of the previous coalition) and, second, the fact that only one coalition is predicted per 'game '. As a result of the latter characteristic, the integration of this coalition formation submodel in a larger (econometric) politico-economic model should be far less complicated. Moreover, statistical tests indicate that the proposed model works at least as good as the traditional theories, despite its parsimonious nature.
Italy : The decline of a Parliamentary Party Government
Authors: Fabbrini Sergio
Published: July 2021

The article deals with the evolution and transformation of Italian party government in the period 1948-1996. Considering the two crucial dimensions of "government formation" and "cabinet organization and decision-making", the article compares the period before and after 1992 (till the elections of April 1996).  The comparison shows the extraordinary experience of the Jour years 1992-1996: universally defined as the years of the "Italian transition". If the parties controlled both the processes of government formation and cabinet decisionmaking in the period 1948-1992, in the following period of 1992-1996 both processes were controlled more by the president of the Republic (and by the "technical" president of Council of ministers selected by him) than by the parties (with the partial exception of the Berlusconi government of May-December 1994). Theparties were so unimportant in the four years of the Italian transition, that we can define this one as a period of an unprecedented semipresidentialism with residual party government.
The Political role of the judiciary : The Belgian case
Authors: Van Outrive Lode
Published: July 2021

We set out by tracking the political vicissitudes of the administration of justice and their connections with a range of phenomena: the neglect by politicians; a series of events and scandals and the very curious reactions of the judicial apparatus; several parliamentary investigation commissions without much effect. Then we take a critical look at partisan politicisation of the magistrature: negative evalution of their output thrives to it; but there are also partisan appointments and promotions, even absence and refusal of training. Many contextual factors hinder a normal, acceptable process of politicisation: over- and underregulation, bad legislation, misconception on contra! over the administration of justice and over judges, non-democratic decisionmaking within the organisation of the magistrature, the development of wrong relationship inside the trias politica; but also other more external conditions were not met neither.  We wind up with an examination of the assesment of recent governmental proposals: an improvement of criminal and judicial inquiries; foundation of a national advisory body for the magistrature; simplification of the legislation; modernisation of the courts activities; a more objective recruitment and selection system; more easy access to justice etc. The question raises as to wether it suffices to tinker with the sy stem of the administration of justice alone ... Between the Belgian and the Italian situations are similarities and relevant differences.
On the 'Two Faces' of right-wing extremism in Belgium : Confronting the ideology of extreme right-wing parties in Belgium with the attitudes and motives of their voters
Authors: De Witte Hans
Published: July 2021

In this article, we analyse the ideological differences between extreme rightwing parties and their voters in the Flemish and Walloon part of Belgium. Extreme right-wing ideology consists of five core elements:  (biological) racism, extreme ethnic nationalism, the leadership principle, anti-parliamentarianism and an anti-leftist attitude. All these attitudes refer to the basic value of rightwing extremism: the belief in the inequality of individuals and ( ethnic) groups.  An analysis of the ideology of the Vlaams Blok in Flanders shows that it adheres to these core elements of extreme right-wing ideology. An analysis of the attitudes and motives of the voters of this party, however, shows that they cannot be considered as right-wing extremists. The ideological gap between the Vlaams Blok and its electorate is due to the strategy of this party, since it cultivates 'two faces': a populist, moderate face in order to attract votes, and a radical extreme rightwingface in order to recruit and motivate militants. In Wallonia, less is known about the ideology of right-wing parties and that of their voters. Current research however, suggests that the conclusions from Flemish research may very well be generalized to Wallonia as well.
La légitimité politique d'une politique sociale sélective
Authors: Andries Mark
Published: July 2021

Since the beginning ofthe 1980s, successive Belgian governments have pursued a social security policy that is a combination of cutting social expenditure on the one hand and improving the plight of lower income categories among benefit recipients on the other. This has been realised by means of a strategy of 'targeting within universalism ', i.e. improving the benefits for the poor and restricting them for the better off, but without abolishing the entitlements oft he latter category completely. The Belgian experience puts inperspective the 'middle class matters' argument, which predicts that, if cuts are made in social expenditure,the middle classes will use their political resources to defend the provisions they benefit from and to diminish the benefits reserved for the poor.
De rol van de burgemeester
Authors: Ackaert Johan
Published: July 2021

This article confronts several theoretical role-models about mayor's behaviour with their own perception. For this purpose, the statistical data is drawn from a survey among Flemish mayors. Mayors perceive the ''father of the community" role as the most prevailing one. This perception is reflected in their timespending. More than 1/4 of their time is dedicated towards activities such as participation in the community life, individual service rendering to citizens and having individual contacts with them.The father of the community' role lives strongly among mayors with a lower educational degree and less among the higher educated ones. It is also more perceived among mayors being recent office-bolders, while the more experienced ones seem more to maintain a certain distance from this role. Moreover, mayors with a lower educational degree are recordholders in having individual contacts with citizens. Finally, no relation has been found between roleperception and timespending on the one hand and party background on the other hand.
Hoe komen toekomstige mandatarissen in contact met de lokale politiek ? : Een verkennend onderzoek
Authors: Devos Carl , Matthyssen Elke , Reynaert Herwig , Van Hoe Jacqueline
Published: July 2021

The way politicians get in contact with local polities in Flanders bas been examined based on the sociological distinction between ascribed and achieved status positions.  Politically active relatives were considered characteristic of ascribed local mandates.Membership of different associations was seen as a way of personally achieving a local mandate. The results indicate that a combination of both was most frequently occuring. In spite of popular convictions, family was still quite important to get in contact with politics. This is shown in the high rates of respondents having politically active relatives.Next to this, a lot of political involvement occured via participation in a diversity of associations. Participations considered were membership, diligence and officeholding in a political party, a union, a health insurance organisation, an advisory body and all other political or non-political associations.
De gemeenten en de lokale politiek in het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest
Authors: Buelens Jo , Deschouwer Kris
Published: July 2021

The municipalities in the Capital Region of Brussels have the same legal statuts as the other Belgian municipalities. Yet the political reality is quite different, and requires a different approach. Three specific aspects of the Brussels municipalities are discussed. They are bilingual, which leads to very specific strategical problems. Moreover the power relations between parties fluctuate a lot in Brussels. And finally the small size of the Region leads to an incremental 'emptying' of a number of local competencies by the powerfull political executive of the Region.
Arm (in de) stad : Medico-sociale uitdagingen voor het OCMW
Authors: Cools H.B.
Published: July 2021

This account of poverty and deviance during recent times in the city of Antwerp compares situations of the 1930's with present times. Undoubtedly social security prevented, since the end of the war, that many people feit into poverty.  Still in the presence of massive unemployment, public relieve organisations, such as the 0.C.M.W. (Municipal Centre for Health Care and Social Welfare) are more and more confronted with what is called precarity.About 25% of the Antwerp population is estimated to be living in a precair situation. After glancing on the near future and warningfor a number of social challenges, the article insists very much on preventional politics and coordinated total development projects in the depressed areas.
Nationalisme, Objectiviteit en Subjectiviteit
Authors: Heysse Tim
Published: July 2021

Historians and theoreticians of nationalism and nationalist movements are perplexed by the fact that so much of what nationalists believe is evidently not the case. One example of this concerns the ontological or metaphysical status of the nation: whether nations as a form of political community are in the very nature of things or whether they are rather a recent way of imagining the political community.I question the meaning terms such as 'natural', 'imagined' and 'objective'/'subjective' have when we are talking about the nation as the foundation of political legitimacy. Ido this by explaining what meaning those terms have in the philosophical reconstruction of interpretation and communication by the American philosopher Donald Davidson.
The Role of News Media in European Integration : A Framework of Analysis for Political Science
Authors: Hodess Robin B.
Published: July 2021

The pbenomenon of European integration has received a great deal ofattention from political scientists in the wake of the mid-1980s 'relaunch' ofthe European Union (EU). However, political science's theoretical consideration of West European integration has from the outset failed to include news media as a factor in EU politics. This oversight is linked to the general dismissal of the public and public debate as irrelevant to the integration project. Yet because media have several critical functions in politics - as an information-source, agendasetter, and legitimator - political science treatment of the EU now needs to account for the role of news media. Turning to concepts in normative media theory, the article proposes a framework within which to consider media and suggests empirical analysis of media coverage of the European Union. Such analysis would complement political science study of the democratisation and legitimation of the EU, while acknowledging public discourse as an element crucial to the future course of European integration.
The Flemish Identity : Nascent or Existent ?
Authors: Kerremans Bart
Published: July 2021

The existence of a Flemish identity is a much debated issue in the Flanders.  Some deny its existence on the basis of a rejection of national identities all together. Others perceive it as just one variant of a Western European identity. Still others consider it, not as a identity on its own but as part of the Belgian identity. Whatever the outcome, the discussion itself seems to be restricted to a small elite. The general public in the Flanders is not interested in the issue and doesn't seem to identify itself with a Flemish identity. A small empirical research indicates however, that part of the Flemish politicians and journalists use this identity as a perspective on politics and society. For that reason, the Flemish identity seems to be a condition which is quite similar to the one attributed by Gellner to national identities in the nineteenth century. Isn't it better therefore, to talk about a nascent instead of an existent Flemish identity ?
Les institutions publiques belges au coeur du conflit linguistique dans l'entre-deux-guerres ou Le nationalisme flamand enquête d'identité politique
Authors: Delfosse Pascal
Published: July 2021

This analysis concentrates on the linguistic laws of1921 and 1932 concerning the linguistic statuts of the civil servants, and on their contribution to the quest for political identity of Flanders. It exhibits the real political  signification of the parliamentary debates on unilinguism and bilinguism. This debate is in the same time paradoxical and instructive for the future of the country. The paradox is that the Flemish circles were in favour of the bilinguism of the civil servants (which postulates a unitary conception of the State), and the Frenchspeakings for the other solution (supposing the linguistic duality ofthe civil servants). The unilinguist solution which was decided will certainly f acilitate the federalization of the civil services beginning in the sixties. In fact, every solution was in favour of Flanders: either the bilinguism would increase the number of Flemish civil servants (due to the ignorance of Dutch language by the Frenchspeakings), either the unilinguism would create the bases for Flemish own civil services.
Het Vlaamse politieke gebeuren in 1996
Authors: Craeghs Jo
Published: July 2021

In the political field, Flanders experienced a very eventful year throughout 1996. The inauguration of the Flemish Parliament and the award for a 'Draft Constitution for Flanders ' made up two symbolic heights of the Belgian federalization. On the other hand, the deepening and the widening of the Flemish autonomy regularly led to tensions between the Flemish and the Walloon Community.In the policy fields as well, far-reaching changes took place. The most important ones are mentioned within the scope of this annual review article.
Een nieuw en flexibel personeelsbeleid in de lokale besturen in Vlaanderen ?
Authors: Steen Trui
Published: July 2021

Personnel management in localgovernment in Flanders bas undergone some major reforms during recent years. We examine the purposes and the extent of these reforms. Also, the new personnel management in Flemish local government is evaluated in terms of flexibility. The Flemish civil service can be considered as an Internal Labour Market. The rigidity which characterises the Internal Labour Market in local government in Flanders is shown by the fact that local government lacks discretion in elaborating the personnel statute, which still constitutes the basis of personnel management. However, the thesis that the public sector employment policy is too rigid has to be nuanced. The civil service is familiar with irregular forms ofemployment. Infact, in Flemish local government only half of all personnel are employed according to a statute.Despite some constraints on the development of more flexible personnel policies, it is still possible to find opportunities which provide hope for the development of new and modern personnel management strategies in local government.
De lokale en provinciale politieke elites in Oost-Vlaanderen na WO II : een verkennend comparatief onderzoek
Authors: Reynaert Herwig , Valcke Tony
Published: July 2021

From the analysis of the local and provincial elected people in the province of East-Flanders during the period 1946-1991 one can conclude that there are barriers for women, lower social classes and certain age categories preventing them from moving up the local and provincial political! elites.Clear differences between local and provincial elected people are present when comparing professional backgrounds with the composition of the total working population in East-Flanders. Workers are neither on the local, nor on the provincial level very numerous. However the large absence with the provincial elected people bhs to be emphazised. Secondly farmers, intellectual and free professions, employees, self-employed and employers are on both levels constantly overrepresented. However the overrepresentation of farmers can mainly be situated on the local level until the mergers of 1976. For intellectual and free professions, till the mid-sixties the overrepresentation can mainly be situated on the provincial level, from then onwards on the local level. The employees' overrepresentation has always been most important on the provincial level white the self-employed and employers are mainly overrepresented on the local level from 1970 onwards. Finally till about 1970 teaching personnel was underrepresented on both levels white from then onwards there is an overrepresentation.
De kroniek van een aangekondigde vervlakking : de Europese Unie, de nakende uitbreiding en de mislukte pogingen tot aanpassing van de EU-Raad van Ministers
Authors: Kerremans Bart
Published: July 2021

The European Union bas recently started negotiations on its enlargement with a first group of six countries. This will probably be followed by a second wave of enlargements that would include five or six more countries. A question that can be raised in whether the institutional structure of the EU is ready to cope with an expanded membership. This article aims at analyzing this question as far as the Council of Ministers is concerned. It points at the rising tension between the capacity of the Council to act and the extent of control that each member states can exert on Council decision-making. The IGC that resulted in the Amsterdam Treaty basically failed to resolve this problem. The article looks at the reasons why it failed since these reasons expound the problems the EU will have to face in the near future when preparing its institutions for an expanded membership.
De eigenheid van regio's in Europa : Een bijdrage tot het debat over regiovorming
Authors: Vos Hendrik
Published: July 2021

Since the regional level has become important in European politics, it is necessary to examine the specifity of the regions. This contribution is a first attempt to develop a model to measure 'regional specifity' for the ten criteria which are most often used to define regions in academic literature.  A first application of the model (for the NUTS1-regions) makes clear the characteristics of those regions and gives an understanding of the process of regionbuilding as well. Most regions with a certain degree of political autonomy do have a specificity on more criteria than those regions without any autonomy.  These empirical data give a scientific basis to the thesis that regional specificity is (consciously or unconsciously, and at least to a certain degree) constructed by regional authorities.
Morfologie van het partijbureau bij de CVP en de BSP in de jaren vijftig
Authors: Biondi Peter
Published: July 2021

The party executive is the most important organ within a political party especially in Belgium which is charaterised as one of the strongest particracies in Western Europe.  Focusing on the functioning of the party executive within the CVP (1959-1960) and the BSP (1956-1957) at a moment both parties govern with the Liberal Party as coalition partner, the attendances and interventions within the party executive show a group of approximately fives persons playing a predominant role in the decision making process. In both cases the party president is the most important and powerful person. The almost complete absence of government membres within the party executive of the CVP forms a remarkabledifference to the BSP. The relationship between party and government is quite different in both parties. In the BSP the cooperation and support between party and government is much better than within the CVP.
De persistentie van verzuiling op microniveau in Vlaanderen : Een analyse van surveydata over lidmaatschap, zuilintegratie, stemgedrag en maatschappelijke houdingen
Authors: Hooghe Marc
Published: July 2021

An analysis of survey data on membership, pillarisation, voting behaviour and attitudes.Belgian society is traditionally portrayed as heavily pillarised, i.e. having a system of exclusive linkages between voluntary associations and political parties, resulting in the formation of a catholic, a socialist and a liberal 'pillar' within society. Recently, several authors have questioned the validity oft his model. Our survey of the Flemish population, however, shows that pillarisation is an enduring feature of Flemish society. Membership of voluntary associations, trade unions and health insurance organisations remains ideologically motivated, and shows a high degree ofconsistency in this respect. Integration into a 'pillar' exerts a strong influence on voting behaviour, although this effect weakens in younger generations. Pillars also have significant, but weaker effects on attitudes like individualism, trust and solidarity. In the social capital research tradition, these differential effects of membership are often neglected. Although there are signs that pillarisation weakens in Fiemish society, the system certainly has not disappeared.