Bram Wauters

Effects of Campaign Spending in an Open List PR System: The 2003 Legislative Elections in Flanders/Belgium

In countries with a majoritarian electoral system, the expenses of challengers are generally found to have a stronger effect on the electoral outcome than the expenses of incumbents. Research on campaign expenditure effects in Brazil suggests that this is not the case in countries with an open list PR system and large districts. This hypothesis is confirmed by an analysis of the effect of individual campaign expenses on the number of preferential votes in the 2003 legislative elections in Flanders/Belgium. An analysis of high quality candidates shows that the expenses have a substantial effect on the vote which does not vary according to incumbency status. However, the effect of media exposure on the vote is stronger than and largely independent of the effect of campaign expenses.

It's Not Only About Lists: Explaining Preference Voting in Belgium

This article analyses the decision of Belgian voters to cast a preference vote on the occasion of the 2009 regional elections. And what appears is that preference votes could be given three meanings. First, preference voting appears to be a sophisticated voting behaviour more accessible to politically interested and involved voters. Less politically active voters more often limit themselves to marking their ballot on the top of the list without differentiating their support among candidates. Second, preference voting is very much a token of voter–candidate proximity. Voters are more likely to support candidates when they know one or several specific candidates directly or via the media. Finally, preference voting is also very much dependent on the structure of institutional incentives. The more influence a preference vote has on the process of intra-party seat allocation, the more likely voters are to make the effort. All in all, this article shows the diversity of motivations behind preference voting, and more importantly the different meanings it could take in elections.

Barriers to Refugee Entrepreneurship in Belgium: Towards an Explanatory Model

The integration of refugees in Western societies is often perceived as problematic, both by refugees and by the native population. By promoting refugee entrepreneurship, integration into the host society can be assisted, and domestic entrepreneurship boosted. Refugee entrepreneurship has been an underdeveloped domain of scientific research. The number of refugee entrepreneurs in Belgium is limited and they earn less than other self-employed people. Interviewing advisors and refugee entrepreneurs yields several insights into the obstacles encountered. These are grouped under three headings: market opportunities and access to entrepreneurship, human capital and social networks, and the institutional and societal environment. It appears that refugees suffer more from barriers than other immigrants.

Explaining Participation in Intra-Party Elections: Evidence From Belgian Political Parties

This article focuses on the participation of party members in intra-party elections and on explanations for this behaviour. The number of intra-party elections is increasing, but their study remains an under-researched phenomenon in contemporary party politics. I test whether participation theories applicable to participation in society also obtain in intra-party elections. The theories tested are: instrumental motivation theory, mobilization theory, resource theory and participation as habit. My analysis on the individual level focuses on two particular internal elections in Belgian parties (VLD and VU) that differ in type and in the membership and ideology of the parties organizing these elections. The results largely confirm the instrumental motivation theory and participation as habit. Neither the mobilization theory nor the resource theory are supported.

Giving More Weight to Preferential Votes: Welcome or Superfluous Reform? The Case of the Local Elections in Flanders (Belgium)

Abstract In response to a crisis of representative democracy in many Western countries, (local) governments have introduced instruments to circumvent political parties in order to establish more direct links between citizens and governments. One of these instruments is rendering electoral systems more personal, that is by giving more weight to preferential voting. Preferential voting is important since it constitutes a major element of the personal vote and it determines whether parties or voters are the main decision-makers in designating representatives. We have investigated, in relation to the local elections in Flanders (Belgium), in what kind of municipalities voters are most likely to cast a preferential vote, whether the electoral reform granting voters more power has had an effect, and if it has had an effect, in what kind of municipalities. We have put forward five groups of explanatory variables: socio-demographic, political, social capital, geographic and ballot form variables. Our analysis shows that variables from each group correlate significantly with the percentage of preferential votes, with population density and electronic voting as most important variables. A comparison between the 1994 and 2006 elections often yields the reverse picture: characteristics of municipalities that have a positive effect on the percentage of preferential votes cast have a negative impact on the evolution of preferential voting and vice versa (electronic voting being an exception). This results in the only obvious effects of the electoral reform being seen in urban municipalities, because elsewhere local politics was already to a large extent personalised by politicians being locally known. We could conclude that in these rural municipalities the electoral reform was superfluous.

Democratising Party Leadership Selection in Belgium: Motivations and Decision Makers

Political parties are increasingly adopting more inclusive procedures to select their party leader, most notably by introducing party primaries. This article tries to detect motives and decision makers for this introduction in Belgian parties. The literature on Westminster-style parties contends that party elites only reluctantly transfer more power from the parliamentary party group (PPG) to party members. They do so only when finding themselves in a weak position: after electoral defeat, when in opposition, when other parties are doing so or when the party is new. The situation in Belgium is different, as is demonstrated with quantitative and qualitative data. Mostly, the party elite was keen on introducing party primaries and took the initiative itself to carry them through. The mechanism at work, however, is the same as in Westminster parties: avoiding too much power for middle-level elites. Because of the different starting position (party delegates selecting the leader), the decision-making process looks completely different. We also argue that the results from Belgian parties might apply to consensus democracies in general.

Pinning the Butterfly: Women, Blue-Collar and Ethnic Minority MPs vis-à-vis Parliamentary Norms and the Parliamentary Role of the Group Representative

This article deals with the apparent contradiction between, on the one hand, parliaments as envisaged by neo-institutionalists as stable and stabilising institutions and, on the other hand, the societal desire to diversify political personnel and to open up political decision-making processes to include group interests that were under-represented in the past. To answer the question whether and to what extent norms have changed to embrace diversity in parliament, the authors investigate everyday rituals, including role behaviour. Based on a focus group interview and a series of individual interviews with women, ethnic minority and blue-collar MPs in the Belgian Chamber, the article concludes that these groups are more likely to adapt themselves than to change parliamentary norms. Regarding the role of the group representative, the major finding is that it cannot be seen as a sign of parliament truly and positively embracing diversity. Moreover, it might even be interpreted as a strategy to address the request for diversity without changing existing power relations.

BRINGING CLASS (BACK) IN: METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON SOCIAL CLASS AND REPRESENTATION

Research on the political representation of socially disadvantaged groups has strongly focused on women and ethnic minorities while social classes have been underexposed. There are some good reasons for this: the declining relevance of class in modern society, the incorporation of class interests in political parties and the way researchers have been struggling with operationalising the social class of parliamentarians. In this article, we will try to answer these objections and will demonstrate a method to overcome the methodological difficulties.

Pushed Toward the Exit? How Female MPs Leave Parliament

Worldwide, politicians devote increasing attention to the sociodemographic representativeness of political institutions. The underrepresentation of specific groups (and of women in particular) in political institutions is a democratic problem (Phillips 1995). To counter the lack of representativeness of political institutions, measures have been adopted to increase the influx of female politicians in parliaments and governments. Among others, quota regulations have been implemented in several countries in recent years (Dahlerup 2007; Krook 2007).

Blue collars striking the red flag: formal and descriptive representation of the working class in the Belgian House of Representatives 1946-2007

In this article the effect of ideological changes in political parties (catch-all process) and in their recruitment patterns (professionalization) on the party affiliation of working-class politicians is investigated in Belgium, both for Members of Parliament (MPs) and for candidates. The disappearance of the link between the working class and social-democratic parties due to enlargement of the parties’ focus coincides with a decline in formal and descriptive representatives of that class in such parties. This could be problematic for the substantive representation of working-class interests. The relatively high number of working-class representatives in extreme right parties do not necessarily defend all working-class interests.