Kingdom of Belgium: Partitocracy, Corporatist Society, and Dissociative Federalism

At the 13 June 2010 general elections, nearly half the Flemish voted for independence parties while all Francophone parties defended the federal status quo. Hence, the crucial question is whether Belgium will survive, and if so, under what form of federal arrangement. The instability of Belgian federalism is certainly related to the evolution of its parties. Since 1978, there have been no polity-wide parties, only French-speaking or Flemish parties, each representing their own community. These parties fuel centrifugal tendencies, but also act as agents of federal coordination, together with the major civil-society organisations that hitherto defended the federal mode