Belgian Political Parties Since Liberation

In: The review of politics, Band 12, Heft 1, S. 99-119

Abstract

The party structure in Belgium has always reflected not merely the graduation of opinions from the extreme right to the extreme left, but also the linguistic and religious differences of a nation divided into French and Flemish speaking people, and into Catholic believers and freethinkers. The latter distinction still remains the most important one. Thus, the parties continue, as during the nineteenth century, to be classified into "right" and "left" according to whether they have a religious or an agnostic character. The "right" is considered identical with the Catholic Party, and the "left" with the Liberal, Socialist, and Communist Parties. It is also true that the Catholic Party is considered politically conservative, and the "left," taken as a whole, progressive. And since the "right" has an absolute majority in Flanders and the "left" in Wallonia (the French speaking region), it can be said that, very broadly, the religious, political, and linguistic groupings tend to place Catholics, conservatives, and Flemings against freethinkers, progressives, and Walloons.