Res Publica |
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Article | Ze halen hun slag wel thuisOver particratie en het aanpassingsvermogen van Belgische partijen |
Trefwoorden | dealignment, electoral support, federalism, gender, particracy, personalisation |
Auteurs | Jean-Benoit Pilet en Petra Meier |
DOI | 10.5553/RP/048647002018060004002 |
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Jean-Benoit Pilet en Petra Meier, "Ze halen hun slag wel thuis", Res Publica, 4, (2018):321-345
Particracy has been widely used to describe Belgian politics after World War II. Yet, Belgian politics has changed. We examine five changes – the federalisation of the state architecture, diversification of the demos, erosion of political support, party’s dealignment and personalisation of politics – to evaluate how they have affected particracy in Belgium. The answer is twofold: particracy is still very strong, but it has changed. The three traditional party families that had institutionalised particracy in Belgium (Christian-democrats, socialists and liberals) had to face new challengers. They co-opted the most moderate ones (greens, regionalists), while excluding others (radical right/left). Intraparty democracy/participatory/transparency reforms, or changes to the electoral system, all of them opening the political system, were also implemented, but parties were able to overcome them. Yet, the ever-growing gap between traditional parties and citizens and the growth of new parties building upon voters’ dissatisfaction with traditional parties, may put particracy more radically into question. |