Lieven De Winter

Parliamentary Opposition in Post-Consociational Democracies: Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands

This paper derives various hypotheses about parliamentary opposition in Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands from consociational theory, with the common denominator that there was cooperation rather than competition among the main political parties. Although to varying degrees, and with significant exceptions, this expectation was largely confirmed. Since the 1960s, though, each of these countries has experienced some degree of de-pillarisation, which had the hypothesised effect of increased competition in the electoral and parliamentary arenas. However, at the same time the main parties lost some of their ideological distinctiveness, leading to a major change in the basic opposition patterns that could be characterised, with some exaggeration, as having evolved ‘from opposition without competition to competition without opposition’. In the 1960s Arend Lijphart predicted that this would lead to anti-system opposition from the radical Left. Contrary to that expectation, the three countries witnessed challenges from the populist Right, with important differences between Belgium on the one hand, and Austria and the Netherlands on the other, as to the reaction by the main parties to this new opposition.

Intra‐ and Extra‐Parliamentary Role Attitudes and Behaviour of Belgian MPs

In terms of outputs and activities situated inside and outside parliament, Belgian MPs display a wide variety of behavioural patterns, between but also within parliamentary groups. Belgian MPs spend nearly 30 hours a week on activities situated inside parliament, while the other half is mostly allocated to constituency activities (party and pressure group work, local office, individual and collective constituency service, participation in social life and private occupation). The multivariate analyses of determinants of 26 dimensions of behaviour indicate that variables ensuing from past and current positions MPs occupy in different (non‐)political networks, from demands made upon them as position holders and resources ensuing from these positions, explain overwhelmingly more variance in behaviour than less ‘fixed’ determinants like role attitudes, psychological incentives and office goals.

Belgium: Towards the Breakdown of a Nation-State in the Heart of Europe?

Due to reversal of the center-periphery cleavage between Flemish and Francophones by the 1960s, the Belgian unitary state was transformed gradually into a fully fledged federal state. In spite of this empowerment of the regions and communities, the aftermath of the June 2007 general elections showed that Belgium was moving into a crucial, and maybe final, phase of its community conflict. Conflicts over socioeconomic autonomy have replaced the original language issues, essentially opposing on the one hand the Francophones in Wallonia and Brussels unanimously defending the institutional status quo of the current federal state, and on the other hand most Flemish political elites calling for radical autonomy, and some even for independence. In the near future, undoubtedly more policy competences will be devolved, but this “lighter but fitter Belgium” outcome may not satisfy Flemish elites.

What Do Selectorates Seek? A Comparative Analysis of Belgian Federal and Regional Candidate Selection Processes in 2014

The 2014 “mother of all elections” in Belgium offers a unique opportunity to test whether candidate selection for regional and federal elections work alike or differently. The fact that Belgian “statewide” parties do not exist anymore and that Belgium is a quasi-closed list system, giving parties almost unlimited control over candidate selection enhances the uniqueness of the Belgian case. This article verifies whether these “regional” parties select candidates according to different methods for both elections and whether candidates for both elections display different attributes. Our exploratory analysis draws on in-depth interviews with party actors, on the 2014 Belgian Candidate Survey and on an extensive database of regional and federal parliamentary/executive careers since 1991. Our results show that selection procedures strongly differ across parties but hardly within parties regarding regional and federal elections. Besides, regarding candidates’ attributes, only few differences were found between levels. Hence, both levels seem to work alike.

Belgien. Berufspolitiker und die Krise des Parteienstaates

Der Professionalisierung der politischen Klasse wurde bisher in der belgischen Politikwissenschaft wenig Beachtung geschenkt. Es existieren nur vereinzelte Langsschnittuntersuchungen zu den Merkmalen der parlamentarischen Elite (vgl. Van Hassel 1959; Schmidt 1970; Beaufays 1972). Hinzu kommen noch einige Studien uber die legislative ,Klasse‘.1 Einer der Grunde fur das Fehlen wissenschaftlichen Interesses ist die Tabuisierung der Einkunfte von Politikern, was teilweise auf die generelle Geheimniskramerei im Umgang mit dem Einkommen und Vermogen der Belgier zuruckgefiihrt werden kann. Ein zweiter Grund ist der komplexe Charakter der politischen Klasse in der ,Partitokratie‘ Belgiens (Deschouwer et al. 1996), wo Parteien die Offentlichkeit in einem Mase durchdrungen haben, das sie die Verfugungsgewalt uber eine grose Zahl an offentlichen Amtern besitzen und sie zum Teil zur Belohnung oder zum ,Parken‘ von Angehorigen der mittleren und hoheren Parteielite nutzen. Bis vor kurzem traf dies auf das gesamte Justizsystem, die Spitzenpositionen in den offentlichen Unternehmen und Finanzinstitutionen sowie die hoheren Range des offentlichen Dienstes zu. Die Foderalisierung hat daruber hinaus eine neue politische Klasse auf der Ebene der Regionen und Gemeinschaften geschaffen (s.u.).