Nationalism / National Building Process Term Paper

So, Belgium chose a proportional representation system in 1899 in order to avoid a permanent confrontation between the two sides.

The sub-societies of Belgium recognize and respect each other and they all agree on a principle of self-organization. The Belgian government is based on a principle of mutual recognition of the segments, and permanent compromises between them to spread over public goods (Lijpharrt, 1977).

The federalization of the state was another consequence of the split of Belgium in two. Regions managed to gradually have more independence in the federations, convincing traditional political parties to grant more competences to the regions, so that they could manage their problems themselves. This led to the situation that the Belgium state is more an empty framework, than a state as the classical definition. The decision-making process is made at regional level, while policies are implemented to one of the two segments of nation, while central administration concentrates on some general powers (defense, finances, security) which are themselves growing limited by the process of European integration (Magnette, 1997).

Belgium managed to create an institutional framework designed to prevent any change in the national spirit of all its identities. Although most multinational countries managed, more or less, to erase the differences between their cultures and they chose to behave as a single nation, the Belgian example shows that it is possible to hold on to national identity and to find the compromising measures that restrict nations as little as possible.

Bibliography

Brass, Paul R. Ethnicity and Nationalism: Theory and Comparison, New Dehli: Sage, 1991;

Crawford Young, M, Revisiting nationalism and ethnicity in Africa, UCLA International Institute, James S. Coleman Memorial Lecture Series, 2004;

Deprez, K. And Vos, L.(eds.), Nationalism in Belgium, Shifting Identities, 1780-1995, London:MacMillan, 1998;

Lijphart, a., Democracy in Plural Societies: a comparative exploration, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977;

Maddens, B., Beerten, R. And Billiet, J., the National Consciousness of the Flemings and the Walloons: an Empirical Investigation, in Deprez, K. And Vos, L., 1998 (198-208);

Magnette, P., De l'etranger au citoyen, Construire la citoyennete europeenne, Brussels: De Boeck, 1997;

Seiler, D.L., Un Etat entre importation et implosion: consociativite, partitocratie et lotissement dans la sphere publique…