The Politics of Belgium

Deschouwer, Kris

doi:10.1007/978-1-137-03025-2

Cited by 153 publications

(86 citation statements)

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“…As regards pillarisation, most authors have hypothesised a relative persistence of this feature in Belgium compared with the situation in other Western European democracies, such as Austria, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Switzerland (Deschouwer, 2009). Luther defines pillarisation as the presence of vertically encapsulated political subcultures organised in rival organisational networks (Luther, 1999).…”

Section: Pillarisation Partitocracy and Party Membershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The issue of education left its mark on the political history of Belgium with two major conflicts on the organisation and the funding of the education system. As a result, two competing systems coexist (Deschouwer, 2009): the official system (linked to the Socialist and Liberal pillars), and the free denominational system (enclosed…”

Section: Members and Overlapping Membershipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parties are recognised as central actors in the political system, which has been described as pillarised and partitocratic (Deschouwer, 2009). First, parties are numerous in Belgium.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the second half of the nineteenth century, the denominational cleavage gave birth to the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, whereas the socio-economic cleavage gave rise to the Socialists. After WWII, the centre-periphery cleavage led to the emergence of the ethnoregionalist parties, but also the split of the three traditional party families along the linguistic divide (Deschouwer, 2009). In the 1980s, the development of new politics favoured the rise of the Greens and the Extreme Right.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Party members in a pillarised partitocracy. An empirical overview of party membership figures and profiles in Belgium

et al. 2012

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This study examines the pillarised and partitocratic nature of Belgian political parties via an empirical overview of their party on the ground. Two main research questions guide the study: To what extent can party membership figures in Belgium be considered as ideal-typical of pillarised or partitocratic parties? And how does the social and political profile of party members in Belgium correspond to what one might expect from pillarised or partitocratic parties? The study relies on two types of data set: party membership figures since WWII and membership survey data of the four 'dominant' relatives in each party family in Belgium. The article shows contradicting results. Although party membership figures have nuanced the idea of partitocratic and pillar parties, the analysis of the profile of party members has produced more conclusive results. The members of some parties (PS, CD&V) still display a strong encapsulation in their sociological world, report specific reasons for joining, as well as lower levels of activism than in other parties. The pillar parties in Belgium seem to have reached a paradoxical situation in which their anchorage in civil society is still very strong, yet it relies on a shrinking social basis. These results raise the question of the incentives that parties offer to their party on the ground to mobilise citizens for participation. They indicate a need to look more systematically and empirically at this neglected aspect of party organisation, as it provides important information for the debate on party decline.

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Section: Pillarisation Partitocracy and Party Membershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Members and Overlapping Membershipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parties are recognised as central actors in the political system, which has been described as pillarised and partitocratic (Deschouwer, 2009). First, parties are numerous in Belgium.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Party members in a pillarised partitocracy. An empirical overview of party membership figures and profiles in Belgium

et al. 2012

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“…Nonetheless, it remains to be investigated how Christian Democratic parties can and will respond to the further erosion of what apparently still is their core constituency. Notes 1 It has to be remembered that Belgium has two linguistically segregated party systems (Deschouwer, 2009). The Dutch language Christian Democratic party only competes in the Dutch-speaking region of the country; the French language Christian Democratic party only competes in the French-speaking region of the country.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion and voting behaviour in Belgium: An analysis of the relation between religious beliefs and Christian Democratic voting

Botterman

Hooghe

2011

Acta Polit

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In this article, we investigate the impact of religious involvement on voting preference for the Christian Democratic party in Belgium. Although religious involvement is declining in Western European democracies, there is still significant evidence for the influence of religion on voting behaviour. We examine the relationship between individual religiosity, community religious involvement and vote preference for the Christian Democratic party in Belgium in 2009. The results show that a Catholic denomination is the most important predictor for vote preference for the Christian Democratic party, followed by church practice. The multilevel analysis demonstrates that this effect can be observed not just at the individual level, but also at the community level as inhabitants of communities with high levels of church practice are more likely to vote for the Christian Democratic party, even controlling for their own religious background and behaviour. Religion still plays a role in determining voting preferences, with the religious effect occurring simultaneously at the individual and the community level, although it is clear that the effect is much stronger at the individual level.

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Belgium

Heath-Brown¹

2015

The Stateman’s Yearbook

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The Politics of Belgium

Cited by 153 publications

References 0 publications

Party members in a pillarised partitocracy. An empirical overview of party membership figures and profiles in Belgium

Party members in a pillarised partitocracy. An empirical overview of party membership figures and profiles in Belgium

Religion and voting behaviour in Belgium: An analysis of the relation between religious beliefs and Christian Democratic voting

Belgium

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