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Flanders, the Flemish part of Belgium, is in mid-2004 still embracing the idea of multiculturalism – the recognition and protection of immigrants as distinct ethnic groups – while this idea is in crisis in the neighbouring country of the Netherlands from where it was imported. Two reasons can be cited to explain the survival of multiculturalism in the region. First of all, the transformation of the Flemish political landscape, in which issues pertaining to immigrant incorporation are of central importance, accounts for the resilience of the idea and practice of multiculturalism in Flemish policy-making. In addition, the multicultural model has been able to survive due to the intertwining of issues linked to immigrant incorporation on the one hand, and multinational politics on the other, in the context of the Brussels- Capital Region.

In the seventies and eighties there was ardent parliamentary debate over local enfranchisement of foreign residents in both Belgium and the Netherlands. When comparing both debates, it is striking that in the Netherlands there was an explicit consensus created not to polarise regarding the issue (thus keeping the ideas of the extreme-rightwing parties out of the debate), while in Belgium there was polarisation, In this way stances that could legitimise or strengthen (latent) racism and ethnocentrism were consciously avoided in the Dutch debate, while the Belgian debate was partly transformed into an electoral struggle over the anti-immigrant vote. This had a crucial effect on the process of formation of discourse coalitions leading to the respective policies of both countries. I formulate a tentative explanation of how the divergent developments of polarisation around the enfranchisement issue can be understood, by pointing out the indirect (discursive) influence of the colonial history and its relations to ideas on national identity.

Classical critical discourse analyses were used to examine processes of polarization in parliamentary debates on enfranchisement of foreign residents in the Netherlands & Belgium during the 1980s, revealing problems in crossnational comparisons of racism/ethnocentrism. It is noted that nonnational residents in the Netherlands were allowed to vote in municipal elections in 1985, but not until 1998 in Belgium. The dominant ideology thesis; Yasemin Soysal's (1994) theoretical framework on postnational membership; & Rogers Brubaker's (1992) theory of cultural idioms/national styles of thought were used to assess the importance of ethnocentrism in the debates & outcomes. The dominant ideology theory did not allow for variations at the level of theory & both Soysal & Brubaker rely on the assumption that unambiguous debate is directly translated into policy outcomes. It is contended that the local enfranchisement debate is not controlled by a single discourse or ideology, & is best studied as a struggle between different political discourses/ideological narratives. In particular, the impact of colonial history on conceptions of national identity is pivotal for understanding differences between Belgium & the Netherlands. 38 References. J. Lindroth

Classical critical discourse analyses were used to examine processes of polarization in parliamentary debates on enfranchisement of foreign residents in the Netherlands & Belgium during the 1980s, revealing problems in crossnational comparisons of racism/ethnocentrism. It is noted that nonnational residents in the Netherlands were allowed to vote in municipal elections in 1985, but not until 1998 in Belgium. The dominant ideology thesis; Yasemin Soysal's (1994) theoretical framework on postnational membership; & Rogers Brubaker's (1992) theory of cultural idioms/national styles of thought were used to assess the importance of ethnocentrism in the debates & outcomes. The dominant ideology theory did not allow for variations at the level of theory & both Soysal & Brubaker rely on the assumption that unambiguous debate is directly translated into policy outcomes. It is contended that the local enfranchisement debate is not controlled by a single discourse or ideology, & is best studied as a struggle between different political discourses/ideological narratives. In particular, the impact of colonial history on conceptions of national identity is pivotal for understanding differences between Belgium & the Netherlands. 38 References. J. Lindroth

This article contains the results of research concerning parliamentary debate about voting rights for foreign residents in the Netherlands (1970–1996) using a discourse analytical framework. Due to the characteristics of the Dutch political field, a large majority of the political actors has to be willing and able to combine political interests and ideological narratives into one story line propagating franchise for foreign residents in order to grant voting rights to nonnationals. It is claimed that the success and failure of policy changes regarding the political participation of nonnationals is foremost determined by the extent of the discursive affinity of argumentative clusters used by parties of the "center-right" with the (leftist) discourse which propagates enfranchisement.

In de (theoretische) sociologiebeoefening lijkt er in de jaren negentig een consensus te groeien omtrent het nut van synthese. Oude theoretische en conceptuele grenzen worden doorbroken en de klassieke dualismes micro/macro en handelen/structuur worden verworpen. De praxeologie van Pierre Bourdieu en de structuratietheorie van Anthony Giddens nemen een toonaangevende rol in binnen dit proces. In dit artikel wordt de aanpak van beide auteurs voorgesteld en vergeleken. De modellen van Bourdieu en Giddens vertonen genoeg gelijkenissen om als vertegenwoordigers van de (fictieve) school van het structurisme beschouwd te worden. De vraag wordt gesteld welke bijdrage dit structurisme tot de discussie omtrent emergentie en dialektiek binnen het handeling/structuur-debat oplevert.