Party system(s) and electoral behaviour in Belgium: From stability to balkanisation

Belgium has one of the most fragmented party systems of any modern democracy. This article asks the following questions: is party fragmentation linked to the importance of the ethno-regionalist vote or to the rules of the electoral system? Has party fragmentation also produced centrifugal or polaris...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:West European politics 2006-11, Vol.29 (5), p.933-956
Main Authors: De Winter, Lieven, Swyngedouw, Marc, Dumont, Patrick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Area studies
Belgium
Coalitions
Cultural identity
Democracy
Electoral behaviour
Electoral Systems
European studies
Flanders
Political Parties
Political stability
Political Systems
Regression analysis
Stability
Systems stability
Voter behavior
Voters
Voting Behavior
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Belgium has one of the most fragmented party systems of any modern democracy. This article asks the following questions: is party fragmentation linked to the importance of the ethno-regionalist vote or to the rules of the electoral system? Has party fragmentation also produced centrifugal or polarised multipartyism (between the regions, but also within Flanders, given the spectacular rise of the Vlaams Blok)? What explains the difference in party fragmentation between Flanders and Wallonia? What are the dimensions of party competition in each community and what are the socio-demographic and attitudinal characteristics of the different electorates? Which steps have the political elites taken to cope with the increasing fragmentation of the party landscape and growing voter volatility? To what extent has the increasing divergence between the regional party systems led to the building of asymmetrical coalitions at the federal and regional levels of government? The splitting of the Belgian party system into two, albeit still fragmented, party systems has further complicated the problems of coordination within a polarised, multi-cleavage and multilevel system that seriously undermines the stability of the entire political system.
ISSN:0140-2382
1743-9655
DOI:10.1080/01402380600968836