(Re-)Assessing Career Patterns in Multi-Level Systems: Insights from Wallonia in Belgium

This article proposes a new analytical framework for the study of political careers in multi-level systems. It is argued that the study of vertical movements between political arenas, which constitutes the prevalent methodological approach in the literature on political careers, should be complemented by the study of horizontal movements within political arenas. Based on a longitudinal analysis of individual political careers, the micro-approach developed in this article allows the comprehension of all territorial dynamics of political careers in multi-level systems. Based on an in-depth case study of all 419 Walloon careers in Belgium, four career patterns are identified: national careers, regional careers, multi-level careers and discrete careers. Although Belgium presents an integrated structure of opportunity, it is demonstrated that key evidences underline the prevalence of a regional and a national political class along a highly integrated political elites.     

Unsafe Feelings Among Teachers

Abstract

Teachers feeling unsafe in front of their classes tend to show a reduced commitment to their educational task. This can have a negative effect on pupils' performance and may cause behaviour problems. Feelings of unsafety are generally associated with pupils' antisocial behaviour.

We examined this proposition and found the correlation between the two factors to be less direct than is generally supposed. Subjective criminality-related factors (subjective victimization risk and own victimization experience) and well-being (including job perception, satisfaction with the pupils) are very important intermediate factors.

Measures intended to reduce teachers' feelings of unsafety should, therefore, not focus directly on pupil behaviour but on the situation in which the teacher has to work. More in particular, attention should be paid to the development of a positive image of and a respectful attitude towards young people, to teamwork and teacher support, and to the optimization of conditional factors (class size, work pressure, etc.).

The research material was collected via questionnaires completed by 1,432 teachers from 91 schools and secondary analyses of questionnaire data from 4,829 pupils (12 — to 18-year-olds) from the same schools. To complement the questionnaire data, twelve focus groups with teachers and eight with pupils were organised.     

The Success of the Regionalist Parties in the 2014 Elections in Belgium

In May 2014, and for the second time in her political history, regional, federal and European elections were organized simultaneously in Belgium. In the direct follow-up of the sixth state reform, which increased the powers and autonomy of the Belgian Regions and Communities, these elections were crucial for the future of the country and for the multi-level coalition formation at the regional and federal levels. The political campaign was dominated by socioeconomic issues and demands for further autonomy, particularly in the Flemish region. Regional electoral results confirmed the success of the regionalist parties in Flanders, but also in Brussels and in the German-speaking Community. These successes allowed regionalist parties to enter all regional and federal governments—often as the dominant party—with the exception of the Walloon and the French-speaking Community cabinets.     

MOVING INTO THE NEW AID APPROACH,DILEMMAS FOR NGOs: THE BELGIAN CASE

Under the new aid approach, nongovernmental development organizations (NGOs) are expected to move from “delivery” (service delivery projects) to “leverage” (lobbying and advocacy). In line with this international tendency, the Belgian government has signed a pact with the NGO sector in which a move away from delivery and toward leverage is being proposed. Given that Belgian NGOs are heavily dependent on government funding and strongly oriented toward the “delivery” model, this pact implies that a number of NGOs will have to undergo organizational changes. This article shows that there is a major cleavage in the NGO landscape in Belgium. Some organizations clearly favor the leverage, whereas others prefer the delivery roles. Those that are more dependent on government funding tend to incline toward the leverage orientation. The attitudinal orientation toward the leverage model however does not imply that organizations are effectively willing and able to change. A number of identity and legitimacy concerns are perceived by NGOs to be important sources of organizational inertia. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trade unions and workplace organization: regulating labour markets in the Belgian and American flat glass industry and in the Amsterdam diamond industry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

In all three industries, internal subcontracting as a way to organize the workplace determined the emergence of craft unionism in the nineteenth century. In both Belgian and American window-glassmaking craft unionism, originally based on exclusion of low-skilled workers who had been underhands in the system of subcontracting, persisted well into the twentieth century, until full mechanization made artisanal glassblowing obsolete. Only then all workers could be united in an industrial union. In diamond manufacturing, craft unions were replaced by a unified industrial union already in the 1890s. In all three industries, trade unions had the biggest impact when they were able to regulate product markets and industrial competition through labour market control. Methods, time frames and duration of labour market control differed considerably, however.     

Defying the traditional theses: Intergovernmental relations on immigrant integration in Belgium

ABSTRACT

This article considers the features of intergovernmental relations (IGR) on immigrant integration in Belgium and critically examines the dynamics that shape them. The characteristics of IGR on immigrant integration in Belgium are shown to vary over time and differ across regions and sub-policy areas (immigrant reception policies and anti-discrimination). The comparative case study indicates that the primary traditional theses of the international comparative IGR literature, namely classical institutionalism and party politics, do not provide insights into the nature and mechanisms of IGR on immigrant integration in Belgium. Less established variables like European integration and sub-state claims for distinctiveness constitute key explanatory variables. While European integration explains the increase of IGR over time, notwithstanding the appearance of party incongruence, sub-state claims for distinctiveness enlighten the more conflictual nature of IGR with Flanders, even in cases of more party congruence than for Francophone authorities.     

Changing your political mind: The impact of a metaphor on citizens’ representations and preferences for federalism

Federalism is often presented through metaphors, but little is known about the impact of such metaphors. Two experiments were conducted in Belgium presenting federalism as Tetris – with control and treatment groups – in order to grasp the influence of this metaphor. The first experiment reveals that being exposed to text with the Tetris metaphor influences respondents’ representations of federalism towards a more institutional representation and towards more regional autonomy. The second experiment confirms the importance of the text, and more specifically of the metaphor, if political knowledge is taken into account. Respondents with a lower level of political knowledge are those who are influenced by the metaphor, whereas respondents with a higher level are not. Therefore, framing the future of Belgian federalism using the metaphor of Tetris does matter: it affects both individuals’ representations of the federalization process and, consequently, their preferences vis-à-vis the institutional future of the country.     

The Future of Belgian Federalism: An Analysis of Party Preferences

This article studies the political discourses regarding the future of Belgian federalism since the year 2000. Analysing party manifestos, it intends to identify patterns of preferences about the long-term evolution of Belgian institutions and the distribution of competences. The quantitative and qualitative analysis shows that the systemic duality of Belgian federalism largely explains the preferences of political actors: French-speaking parties overall oppose the broad state reform that the Dutch-speaking parties collectively support. Yet, each party has a specific position on the decentralization cleavage and a vision of Belgian federalism that cannot be reduced to its linguistic affiliation.     

How Europe Shapes the Nature of the Belgian Federation: Differentiated EU Impact Triggers Both Co-operation and Decentralization

This paper disentangles the impact of various dimensions of European integration on different aspects of the Belgian federal polity. We discern two opposite trends. While the institutional embeddedness of Belgium as an EU member state results in domestic centralizing tendencies and co-operative political practices, economic integration stimulates political pressures for regional autonomy, contributing to further divergence and hollowing out of the federal level. We conclude by arguing that the EU clearly affects territorial politics in Belgium, but, as the European causes are multidimensional, that also the effects, albeit substantial, will be diverse.     

欧洲恢复性司法概述：以比利时为视角

恢复性司法在欧洲的分布版图并不均匀,有些国家,如奥地利、比利时、芬兰等国在恢复性司法的研究和实务方面处于主导地位,但在法国、意大利、西班牙等国的推行并不理想。与大多数欧洲国家一样,比利时的恢复性司法的主要形式是刑事调解。其刑事调解项目启始于20世纪80年代末,从未成年人司法领域开始实践,尔后运用到成年人的轻微刑事案件中,最后推及到整个刑事程序并适用于任何案件。