2,172 research outputs found
Local coalition strategies in Belgium
No full textRegarding the three domains of research to which this paper aimed at contributing, our preliminary analyses indicate the following:
- Local coalition formation remains quite distinct to what is observed at the Belgian national level, as the number of majority situations (although decreasing) opens the door for the formation of single-party governments. However, interesting patterns were revealed amongst these majority situations in the two main regions: it is especially in Flanders that parties with a majority of seats invite other partners to join and therefore form oversized coalitions. The higher fragmentation of the Flemish party system and the necessity for the -usually dominant on the local scene- Christian-democrats to find relays with regional and national governments in which this party was excluded were pointed at as potential explanations. Notice also that for the first time an analysis of coalition formation at the local level evaluated the strength of the policy proximity factor. This revealed that in Wallonia in general local parties do end up in coalition with partners that are not those they perceive as closest to them in policy terms.
- The study of coalition formation at the local level allowed us to scrutinize factors that are not yet well (or not at all) considered in coalition theories, such as the frequency of pre-electoral talks and the strength of socio-psychological factors such as good personal relationships between leaders of different parties. As argued in this paper, where the process of coalition building is not formalized (like in Belgian local politics where formation is of a free-style type) and where there are no institutional instruments that allows for changes in government (nor anticipated elections) during the six-year mandate, parties have incentives to reduce uncertainty by engaging in pre-electoral bargaining. We have also argued that personal relationships may play a more important role at the local level than at higher levels of government because of the proximity and shared socialization of leaders of competing parties.
- Finally, this paper talks to the comparative study of local politics in general in its intention to gauge the effects of local party autonomy with regard to the formation of coalitions that respect the specificities of each commune’s (local electoral trends, local issues on which competition is based, ideological position of local parties which may be quite different than the national one, etc.) democratic system. We also hypothesized that history (previous experiences in power) may take a greater role in contemporary coalition behavior because local party elites tend to stay at the helm for longer periods than national ones. Empirical analyses over the turnover of local party elites are therefore in order. So is research on local party internal democracy, which may also have a constraining effect in local parties’ coalition strategies. In the present paper we probably did not rely on a valid indicator of intra-party democracy and therefore could not prove that it is indeed the case. Rather, our results may indicate that local parties that are well organized and less dependent on higher levels for the selection of candidates (are therefore more autonomous) tend to do better in coalition bargaining
Actual and Potential Electoral Absenteeism in Belgium
No full textDuring the eighties and nineties of the 20th century, absenteeism increased in Belgium. This
evolution ended for all types of elections at the beginning of the current century. This paper
offered a number of potential explanations for this puzzle, but we acknowledge that further
examination is necessary to provide a clear answer for this change.
We showed that potential absenteeists share specific characteristics. Potential turnout (in case
of abolishment of compulsory voting) is linked with socio-demographic variables, with sociopsychological
dispositions and with political attitudinal variables. Further investigation and
comparisons between results of our contextual (aggregate) and survey (individual-level)
analysis are in order. For instance, we noticed that a higher number of lists in a commune is
linked to more absenteeism, whereas survey data allowed us to show that the higher educated
were less likely to abstain if voting was made non compulsory. It is therefore likely that
through education, interest in politics is raised to such an extent that a longer and therefore
more complex menu of parties to vote for is not an obstacle for some parts of the population
whilst it is very much likely to be one for the less privileged groups.
The evolution of the possible effects of abolishing compulsory voting on the power
distribution of different parties is not stable. By consequence, modulating this electoral rule in
order to reshuffle political cards (such as reducing the electoral results of anti-systems parties)
is a high risk operation.
The politically most relevant conclusion of our research is that the level of education and
socio-economic status are still strong determinants of potential absenteeism in Belgium. This
is a stable finding, as we could show that it did not change since our first research project on
the 1991 elections. Lower educated citizens and lower socio-economic status groups are more
likely to ‘exit’ the electoral system in case of abolishment. Abolishing compulsory voting is,
from the point of view of social (in)equality, not a neutral operation
Local coalition strategies in Belgium
No full textRegarding the three domains of research to which this paper aimed at contributing, our preliminary analyses indicate the following:
- Local coalition formation remains quite distinct to what is observed at the Belgian national level, as the number of majority situations (although decreasing) opens the door for the formation of single-party governments. However, interesting patterns were revealed amongst these majority situations in the two main regions: it is especially in Flanders that parties with a majority of seats invite other partners to join and therefore form oversized coalitions. The higher fragmentation of the Flemish party system and the necessity for the -usually dominant on the local scene- Christian-democrats to find relays with regional and national governments in which this party was excluded were pointed at as potential explanations. Notice also that for the first time an analysis of coalition formation at the local level evaluated the strength of the policy proximity factor. This revealed that in Wallonia in general local parties do end up in coalition with partners that are not those they perceive as closest to them in policy terms.
- The study of coalition formation at the local level allowed us to scrutinize factors that are not yet well (or not at all) considered in coalition theories, such as the frequency of pre-electoral talks and the strength of socio-psychological factors such as good personal relationships between leaders of different parties. As argued in this paper, where the process of coalition building is not formalized (like in Belgian local politics where formation is of a free-style type) and where there are no institutional instruments that allows for changes in government (nor anticipated elections) during the six-year mandate, parties have incentives to reduce uncertainty by engaging in pre-electoral bargaining. We have also argued that personal relationships may play a more important role at the local level than at higher levels of government because of the proximity and shared socialization of leaders of competing parties.
- Finally, this paper talks to the comparative study of local politics in general in its intention to gauge the effects of local party autonomy with regard to the formation of coalitions that respect the specificities of each commune’s (local electoral trends, local issues on which competition is based, ideological position of local parties which may be quite different than the national one, etc.) democratic system. We also hypothesized that history (previous experiences in power) may take a greater role in contemporary coalition behavior because local party elites tend to stay at the helm for longer periods than national ones. Empirical analyses over the turnover of local party elites are therefore in order. So is research on local party internal democracy, which may also have a constraining effect in local parties’ coalition strategies. In the present paper we probably did not rely on a valid indicator of intra-party democracy and therefore could not prove that it is indeed the case. Rather, our results may indicate that local parties that are well organized and less dependent on higher levels for the selection of candidates (are therefore more autonomous) tend to do better in coalition bargaining
Actual and Potential Electoral Absenteeism in Belgium
No full textDuring the eighties and nineties of the 20th century, absenteeism increased in Belgium. This
evolution ended for all types of elections at the beginning of the current century. This paper
offered a number of potential explanations for this puzzle, but we acknowledge that further
examination is necessary to provide a clear answer for this change.
We showed that potential absenteeists share specific characteristics. Potential turnout (in case
of abolishment of compulsory voting) is linked with socio-demographic variables, with sociopsychological
dispositions and with political attitudinal variables. Further investigation and
comparisons between results of our contextual (aggregate) and survey (individual-level)
analysis are in order. For instance, we noticed that a higher number of lists in a commune is
linked to more absenteeism, whereas survey data allowed us to show that the higher educated
were less likely to abstain if voting was made non compulsory. It is therefore likely that
through education, interest in politics is raised to such an extent that a longer and therefore
more complex menu of parties to vote for is not an obstacle for some parts of the population
whilst it is very much likely to be one for the less privileged groups.
The evolution of the possible effects of abolishing compulsory voting on the power
distribution of different parties is not stable. By consequence, modulating this electoral rule in
order to reshuffle political cards (such as reducing the electoral results of anti-systems parties)
is a high risk operation.
The politically most relevant conclusion of our research is that the level of education and
socio-economic status are still strong determinants of potential absenteeism in Belgium. This
is a stable finding, as we could show that it did not change since our first research project on
the 1991 elections. Lower educated citizens and lower socio-economic status groups are more
likely to ‘exit’ the electoral system in case of abolishment. Abolishing compulsory voting is,
from the point of view of social (in)equality, not a neutral operation
La participation électorale réelle et potentielle
No full textCertains auteurs considèrent la participation électorale comme un élément crucial pour le bon fonctionnement de la démocratie. Pour qu’un système politique soit légitime, il ne suffit pas que le principe du suffrage universel soit formellement reconnu (il constitue une condition nécessaire, mais pas suffisante), il faut également qu’un grand nombre de citoyens utilisent effectivement ce droit. Un Gouvernement élu par une petite fraction de la population ne peut jouir d’une grande légitimité démocratique. Outre un problème de légitimité, une faible participation électorale pose également la question de l’égalité politique. Dans la plupart des cas, les électeurs qui se rendent aux urnes dans les systèmes où le vote n’est pas obligatoire ne sont pas représentatifs de l’ensemble des citoyens. En effet, comme nous avons pu le montrer dans nos analyses bivariées, les électeurs qui déclarent vouloir continuer à s’exprimer dans l’isoloir si le vote n’était plus obligatoire sont, en moyenne mais de manière systé- matique, mieux instruits et plus aisés que ceux qui tiennent moins à faire valoir leur droit de vote. La non-participation électorale reflète ainsi une exclusion du système social au sens plus large, un isolement social qui provoque un manque d’intérêt pour la vie en société, y compris les affaires publiques, mais aussi une mauvaise compré- hension des enjeux qui ne fait que renforcer ce phénomène d’absentéisme électoral. La seule manière d’éliminer ce biais agissant au détriment des électeurs moins favorisés est d’atteindre des taux de participation très élevés, autour des 90 %, ce que permet une mesure – certes coercitive – comme le vote obligatoire. 23 Lijphart A., « Unequal Participation. Democracy. Unresolved Dilemma », in American Political Science Review, vol. 91, n°1, 1997, p. 1-14 ; Birch S., op. cit., 2009 ; Engelen B., « Why Compulsory Voting Can Enhance Democracy », in Acta Politica, vol. 42, n°1, 2007, p. 23-39. L a pa rt ic i pat ion é lec t or a le rée l le et pot ent ie l le 7 5 Étant donné que les partis et leurs leaders ont tendance à ne s’occuper que des intérêts des gens qui votent et que la professionnalisation de la politique leur permet de mieux distinguer les caractéristiques de l’électorat « mobilisable » de celles de la partie de la population qui ne se rendra de toute façon pas aux urnes (les enquêtes de sociologie électorale constamment utilisées par les spin doctors, les « communicants » des élites politiques), il est probable que les dirigeants politiques manifestent moins d’empressement à s’occuper des problèmes des franges de la population qui ne s’expriment pas lors des élections. Des catégories déjà défavorisées et davantage dépendantes de l’intervention publique (les moins éduqués, les couches sociales les plus basses, les plus âgés), parce qu’elles seraient sous-représentées parmi les électeurs si le vote n’était plus obligatoire, risqueraient d’être encore plus négligées par des élites politiques tentées de cibler leurs programmes et actions sur les électeurs restants. La fracture entre dirigeants et dirigés n’en serait que plus grande et la cohé- sion sociale pourrait elle aussi s’en trouver endommagée. En conclusion, supprimer l’obligation de voter en Belgique ne serait ni sage ni opportun. De plus, une fois supprimé, il est peu probable qu’une marche arrière soit possible. Même si sa suppression révélait des effets négatifs non escomptés, il y a en effet peu de chances que le vote obligatoire soit réinstauré. Le risque de rendre les absentéistes irrécupérables en termes de participation est grand si le système rend acceptable ce comportement. Les analyses comparées concernant la culture politique (civique) des citoyens et l’observation du comportement de nos élites politiques indiquent que ce risque est encore plus important en Belgiqu
The role of sister chromatid cohesion in cohesinopathies, DNA damage response and carcinogenesis
No full textJoenje, H. [Promotor]Winter, J.P. de [Copromotor
Het geld van de CVP en de anderen
No full textJ. ACKAERT, L. DE WINTER, 'Het geld van de CVP en de anderen', in De Nieuwe Maand, XXVII, (1984), 6, p. 485-493
La formation des majorités locales
No full textJ. ACKAERT, L. DE WINTER & P. DUMONT, 'La formation des majorités locales'. In: Bulletin de Dexia Banque. 55, (2001), 2, 29-35 (numéro thématique: Politique communales) J. ACKAERT, L. DE WINTER & P. DUMONT, 'De vorming van lokale bestuursmeerderheden'. In: Tijdschrift van Dexia Bank. 55, (2001), 2, 29-36 (themanummer Gemeentelijke politiek)
Abstentionnisme et vote blanc ou nul : le non-vote en Wallonie
No full textL. DE WINTER, J. ACKAERT, "Abstentionnisme et vote blanc ou nul : le non-vote en Wallonie", in FROGNIER, A-P., AISH-VAN VAERENBERGH, A-M., Elections : la fêlure? Enquête sur le comportement des Wallons et des Francophones, De Boeck, Bruxelles, 1994, p. 77-98
Fanconi anemia pathway defects in sporadic cancer
No full textJoenje, H. [Promotor]Pals, G. [Copromotor]Winter, J.P. de [Copromotor
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