Het verdeelde Brusselse stadsgewest: de politiek-electorale tegenstelling tussen stad en rand

In: Res publica: politiek-wetenschappelijk tijdschrift van de Lage Landen ; driemaandelijks tijdschrift, Band 48, Heft 1, S. 2-24

Abstract

This paper deals with the electoral & political consequences of urban region formation. The electoral geography of new political parties differs substantially from that of traditional ones. New parties are mainly successful in different parts of urban regions. The declining traditional parties have rather a regional pattern, although some of them show new spatial patterns too. These developments are interpreted in the context of the cleavage theory, in which old & new cleavages are linked with a different spatiality. Following the Anglo-Saxon literature an increasing process of polarisation is hypothesised between the welfare state orientated city & a neo-conservative & neo-liberal suburban fringe. This article examines & proofs the existence of these processes in the urban region of Brussels by means of individual-level & ecological electoral data. Figures. Adapted from the source document.