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This article tries to analyse & improve the individual-level approaches to the study of public Euroscepticism in Belgium. In recent literature, three approaches focusing on instrumental, cultural & political cues can be distinguished. First, the utilitarian approach associates Euroscepticism with economic interests. Second, the cultural approach draws on cultural attitudes & affective identities. Third, the political approach associates support for European integration with political efficacy & institutional trust. Drawing upon Belgian data from the IntUne Project 2007, the results show that negative evaluations of the benefits of European membership, social distrust in European fellow citizens & institutional distrust in the EU are the most important determinants of Euroscepticism, while education, national attachment, exclusive identity & political powerlessness have a minor impact. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

For the Benefit of the Common Good? A Historical View on the Flemish Provinces as an Intermediary at the Level of AdministrationThe nation state of Belgium saw its provinces chiefly as intermediary administrative entities from which political dispute had to be excluded. Nevertheless, they disposed of elected provincial councils and enjoyed fiscal autonomy. Although the provincial governments underwent a slow process of politicisation, the effects of the broad socio-political developments over the course of the last two centuries on this level remained far less tangible, due above all to the slow democratisation of the provincial suffrage. The provinces only had a modicum of public visibility and a very limited scope for policymaking. To argue their relevance, the provincial governments referred occasionally to the shared history of their respective inhabitants or to their cultural coherence(s). But this discourse was not powerful enough to shape a common provincial cultural identity. Moreover, it clashed on the artificial borders of the provinces and with the much stronger feelings of local and regional coherence. By clustering these expressions of (sub)regionalism, the provincial governments may have provided building stones for the creation of identity-structures on a higher level. However, this role too remained very modest and can hardly be used to substantiate the institutional tenacity of this level of government.

The central question of this dissertation is what role national identity has played in the interdepartmental policy field of international cultural policy (ICP) in the Netherlands between 1970 and 2012. In four chapters I analyse the history of ICP and the related political debate, using a theoretical framework consisting of the main concepts of a Discourse Historic Analysis (critique, ideology, and power), and tensions within the discourses on ICP and national identity. The role of national identity in the first period (1970-1986) is characterized as 'cultural nationalism'. Culture plays an important role in distinguishing the nation state from the rest of the world, and due to the decreasing autonomy in the field of economics and politics culture is considered (by some) to be the last bearer of the national identity. The debates focus on the question whether or not the government has a role in (actively) protecting that identity. The publication of the report "Culture without borders" by the Scientific Council for Government Policy marks the beginning of the second period (1987-1996). Gradually the primacy of the policy shifts from foreign to cultural policy, and attempts are made to combine within ICP the growing cultural diversity of the Dutch society with the uniting role of a national identity. Therefore the role of national identity is characterized as 'multiculturalism'. Extra funding for international cultural activities in 1997 marks the beginning of the third period (1997-2006), in which the role of national identity is characterized as 'cultural relativism'. The relationship between culture and the nation becomes more loose, and cultural activities abroad no longer seem to represent the nation's identity. This approach in ICP contrasts strongly with the growing discontent and heated public and political debate on national identity. Characteristic for the fourth period (2007-2012) is the return to the primacy of foreign policy and the focus on diplomatic and economic goals. Culture is treated as a ...

The development of a sense of national belonging is problematic in a sociopolitical environment where children are confronted with multiple national identities. Analysis of survey data obtained from a sample of 1,000 Flemish secondary school pupils, ages 17-18, reveals that most Flemish respondents hesitated between claiming a Flemish vs Belgian identity. It is suggested that this lack of a single evident fatherland results in an absence of genuine patriotism. Also, identification with the local community takes precedence over allegiance to the nation. The political socialization process apparently does not effect an emotional attachment to either the Flemish or the Belgian political system. 10 Tables, 3 Graphs. Modified HA

In Europe archeology often has been connected with regionalist or nationalistic interested movements. In some cases archeology thus landed in very risky fairways and in this case it certainly did not promote the development to an independent science with proper theoretical basis. In Africa this is different. Directly after the independence the first president of Mali, Modibo Keita, has sent some promising new-coming students to Europe to study historic sciences, also archeology. In that new country, of which the borders sometime had been drawn by French offices, tribes lived together who often possessed little affinity to one another. To the average inhabitant the identity as Malinesian hardly counted as opposed to the identity as member of a certain section of the population. Keita's intention was to stimulate the interest in the common past of the empires Ghana, Mali, the Songhai and the Bambara. He realized that for the development of the country a common consciousness of the Malinesian identity could not be missed. Generally speaking this thought has found acceptance at the Malinesian intelligentsia. There the interest in the own past is strongly alive. From this thought the Institute des Sciences Humaines at Bamako has started a project to take stock of the numerous old hills of settlement in the inner delta of the Niger, from an economic and demographic point of view forming the most important area in the empire of the rich. The project has been financed by D.G.I.S. and is being executed in co-operation with Dutch archeologists.

Typical of current work in contemporary Soviet political theory is the work of V. N. Danilenko, a specialist in French political theory which appeared in Sovjetskoje Gosoedarstvo i Pravo (1976, Apr). Danilenko analyzes some French political theorists. The needs of ideological struggle require attention to new development in bourgeois ideology. The crisis of world capitalism as well as the emergence of formerly colonial nations has created a need for a renovation of political theories. Today's interest in the typology of political systems is typical of that renovation effort. The French theorists are criticized for assuming the independence of the political & economic structures & for not recognizing the role of ideologies as well as of social & geographic factors. They absolutize political systems & study them abstractly. By contrast, Marxist-Leninist political science asserts that a political system is an expression of the relations between classes & of the means by which the dictatorship of the ruling class is enforced. Therefore, the important criteria in the classification of bourgeois systems are: the rights & liberties of the Wc, how the Wc is represented in the parliamentary institution, what share the Wc has in state power & to what extent the state is forced to respond to PO & use democratic means of government. The Soviet juridical literature is criticized for not recognizing the full diversity of bourgeois systems. However, Marxism-Leninism brings to light what all these systems have in common: they are dictatorships of the bourgeoisie. A. Orianne.

A scheme of analysis for separatism is proposed that identifies the essential factor in a separatist process & explains the waves of active & "dead" separatist activity. Three dimensions in the separatist process are distinguished: conflict, mobilization, & collective action. Each stage is determined by certain factors, eg: contradictions of identity & interests between people & nation; social, political, & economic opportunities of the people; elite behavior; & strength & social movement. Evolution from one dimension to the next depends on these factors, national policy, & societal changes caused by modernization. Periods of inactivity or activity can be explained by verifying the presence or absence of these factors. It is concluded that there are false & real "dead" periods, & that not all separatist activity has a sound basis. 2 Tables. Modified HA