Since January 2020, European countries have implemented a wide range of restrictions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet governments have also implemented democratic compensators in order to offset the negative impacts of restrictions. This article aims to account for the variation of their use between Belgium, the Netherlands and France. We analyse three drivers: the strength of counterpowers, the ruling parties’ ideological leanings and political support. Building on an original data set, our results distinguish between embedded and ad hoc compensators. We find that ad hoc compensators are championed mainly by counterpowers, but also by ideology of the ruling coalitions in Belgium and the Netherlands and used strategically to maintain political support in France. Evidence on the link between embedded compensators and counterpowers is more ambiguous. |
Politics of the Low Countries
Over dit tijdschriftMeld u zich hier aan voor de attendering op dit tijdschrift zodat u direct een mail ontvangt als er een nieuw digitaal nummer is verschenen en u de artikelen online kunt lezen.
Editorial |
Politics in the Low Countries in COVID-19 Times |
Auteurs | Luana Russo en Min Reuchamps |
Auteursinformatie |
Article |
The Resilience of Democracy in the Midst of the COVID-19 PandemicDemocratic Compensators in Belgium, the Netherlands and France |
Trefwoorden | COVID-19, crisis-management, democratic compensators, exceptionalism |
Auteurs | Tom Massart, Thijs Vos, Clara Egger e.a. |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Article |
Opposition in Times of COVID-19 – To Support or Not to Support? |
Trefwoorden | minority government, rally-around-the-flag, COVID-19, mainstream parties, challenger parties, opposition, party goals |
Auteurs | Britt Vande Walle, Wouter Wolfs en Steven Van Hecke |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
COVID-19 has hit many countries all over the world, and its impact on (party) politics has been undeniable. This crisis situation functions as an opportunity structure incentivising opposition forces to support the government. Not much is known about what drives opposition parties to (not) support the government in crisis situations. This article integrates the literature on rally-around-the-flag, political opportunity structures, party types and party goals. More specifically, we focus on the behaviour of opposition parties towards the government’s crisis response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse whether and how the party type influences the position of the party vis-à-vis the governmental coalition, focusing on the case of Belgium. We categorise the seven opposition parties in Belgium as challenger or mainstream parties and explain their behaviour on the basis of policy-, office- or vote-seeking motives. Our analysis is based on party voting behaviour, elite interviews and an analysis of the main plenary debates. |
Article |
Performing the COVID-19 Crisis in Flemish Populist Radical-Right DiscourseA Case Study of Vlaams Belang’s Coronablunderboek |
Trefwoorden | populism, COVID-19, crisis, discourse |
Auteurs | Jens Meijen |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In June 2020, the Flemish populist radical right party Vlaams Belang (VB) published the Corona Blunder Book (CBB; Coronablunderboek in Dutch), detailing the government’s mistakes in handling the COVID-19 crisis. Populist parties can ‘perform’ crisis by emphasising the mistakes made by opponents (Moffitt, 2015) and may use a specifically populist discursive style, consisting largely of aggressive and sarcastic language (Brubaker, 2017). This paper takes the CBB as a case study in the populist performance of crisis and the populist style, finding that the book is, first, a clear example of populist ‘everyman’ stylistics and the performance of crisis, and, second, that VB uses the book to shift the COVID-19 crisis from a public health crisis to a crisis of governance, seeking to blame Belgium’s federal structure for the government’s alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic and hence arguing for Flemish independence, one of the party’s main agenda points. |
Article |
The Praise for a ‘Caretaker’ LeaderGendered Press Coverage of Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès in a COVID-19 Context |
Trefwoorden | political leadership, crisis, care, Belgium, gendered media coverage |
Auteurs | Clémence Deswert |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Studies on media coverage of women politicians have underlined how the media contribute to the association of the figure of the political leader with masculinity. Yet, the social construction of leadership seems to evolve towards a more ‘femininity-inclusive’ definition. Research on the ‘glass cliff’ phenomenon suggests that stereotypical feminine attributes might be expected from political leaders in a time of crisis. We investigated the gendered construction of political leadership in the press in a COVID-19 context through the case of former Belgian Prime minister Sophie Wilmès. In line with the ‘think crisis-think female’ association, our discourse analysis shows an appreciation of traditionally feminine traits, and particularly care-related qualities, in the evaluation of what a ‘good’ leader should be in pandemic times, although some characteristics traditionally associated with masculinity are still considered valuable assets in the journalistic portrayal of Wilmès’ leadership. |
PhD Review |
Economic Insecurity and Populist Radical Right VotingPhD by Take Sipma (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen), supervisors: M. Lubbers & N. Spierings |
Auteurs | Eelco Harteveld |
Auteursinformatie |
PhD Review |
Pragmatic Citizens – A Bottom-Up Perspective on Participatory PoliticsPhD by Hannah Werner (KU Leuven and Universiteit van Amsterdam), supervisors: Sofie Marien, Wouter van der Brug & Marc Hooghe |
Auteurs | Anna Kern |
Auteursinformatie |
PhD Review |
Allied Against Austerity Transnational Cooperation in European Anti-Austerity MovementPhD by Bernd Bonfert (Radboud University Nijmegen), supervisors: Angela Wigger & Laura Horn |
Auteurs | Mònica Clua-Losada |
Auteursinformatie |