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In Flandern steht das Thema Abspaltung nicht auf der politischen Agenda, anders als etwa in Katalonien oder Schottland. Dagegen sind zwei Szenarien denkbar. Entweder der existierende belgische Staat verschwindet und ein unabhängiges Flandern wird neben einem ebenfalls neuen unabhängigen Staat Wallonien (wahrscheinlich mit Brüssel) entstehen oder Belgien wird mit einem kleineren Territorium weiterbestehen. Die Frage lautet, ob Belgien mittelfristig als föderaler Staat mit konföderativen Elementen in der politischen Praxis weiterexistieren wird. (WeltTrends / SWP)

In Flanders, the theme secession is not on the political agenda, unlike, say, in Catalonia or Scotland. By contrast, two scenarios are possible. Either the existing Belgian State will disappear and an independent Flanders is also next to a new independent State Walloon (probably with Brussel) arise or Belgium will continue to exist with a smaller territory. The question is whether Belgium is in the medium term continue to exist as a federal state with confederal elements in political practice. Adapted from the source document.

"In Flandern steht das Thema Abspaltung nicht auf der politischen Agenda, anders als etwa in Katalonien oder Schottland. Dagegen sind zwei Szenarien denkbar. Entweder der existierende belgische Staat verschwindet und ein unabhängiges Flandern wird neben einem ebenfalls neuen unabhängigen Staat Wallonien (wahrscheinlich mit Brüssel) entstehen oder Belgien wird mit einem kleineren Territorium weiterbestehen. Die Frage lautet, ob Belgien mittelfristig als föderaler Staat mit konföderativen Elementen in der politischen Praxis weiterexistieren wird." (Autorenreferat)

The movement towards decentralization in Belgium has been going on for half a century. Political crises have been followed by state reforms. The last to date, in 2010-2011, brought in an unprecedented level of autonomy but did not modify the nature of Belgium's federalism. If another political crisis does arise in the wake of the spring 2014 elections, it is still unlikely that it will lead to Belgium breaking up. So, what is the solution to this impassex? Adapted from the source document.

After the outbreak of the Syrian war, the armed resistance of the Kurds against the radical Islamists drew considerable attention from across the world. Although the Kurdish movement has a history of forty years of armed fight in the region, especially against Turkey, they gained global fame during the war in Syria. Apart from media attention to the resistance of women, in particular, the establishment of a political system, democratic confederalism, which the world was not familiar with, came to exist in the area liberated from the religious fundamentalists in Syria. The Kurds during the Syrian civil war, on one hand, gained international fame for their fight against the radical Islamists; on the other hand, they put a new theory of governance, democratic confederalism, in practice in northern Syria. This paper seeks to provide a brief review of the theory of democratic confederalism and its practices in Rojava to build an argument regarding its future. This case study aims to explore how and why the theory and practices of democratic confederalism co-exist and which factors may influence the Rojava revolution's future. This review's central argument is that while democratic confederalism is a revolution in the field, it is also an experiment whose future depends on how the people will adopt it and how the global and regional powers will approach it.

The article analyzes the theory of Democratic Confederalism that had been established in Northern Syria in the beginning of 2014. Three cantons had been declared in Northern Syria, a region also called as Rojava by Kurds and the system for governance of the cantons was Democratic Confederalism. Democratic Confederalism is a governance system which had been theorized by Abdullah Ocalan. Democratic Confederalism is a governance system that rejects the nation-state and its ideology and proposes a new system that does not rely on any kind of state. The article started with the evolvement of A. Ocalan`s ideology from socialism, in the early 1970s, to Democratic Confederalism in the beginning of 2000s. The article also explained Democratic Confederalism and introduced the main principles of the system. After explaining the system of Democratic Confederalism, the article focuses on governance of Cantons that had been declared in Northern Syria. The last part of the paper finds out whether Democratic Confederalism is functional or not based on experience in Northern Syria.