Today few people deny the existence of regional substate diplomacy (Criekemans 2010). But there is still no common agreement on a region's right to do so and, above all, on their scope of action. This question goes against what used to be the dominant approach in international relations, the state-centric approach that leads to the logic of speaking with one voice. Increasingly, a multilevel-governance approach has contested this state-centric view and proposes an alternative logic of multiple actors speaking with their voice, nuancing strongly the seminal distinction between "sovereignty-bound" and "sovereignty-free" actors (Rosenau 1990). From the 1970s, the world has seen the growing presence of sovereignty-free actors in international relations. Among these actors, non-central or, better, substate, governments of federal states have developed intensive foreign relations. These governments are using a range of techniques: from shaping the federal government's foreign policy to establishing themselves directly in the international arena (Blatter et al. 2008). For minority nation governments this is particularly a challenge, as they have to act internally – where they have developed full-fledged legislative powers within a multinational federation – and externally – where international and national laws are often still reluctant to recognise their right of action (Lejeune 2003). Yet some minority nations have thrived in developing their own international relations. Bavaria, Catalonia, Flanders, Quebec, Scotland and Wallonia are often seen as successful international players even if they are not fully sovereignty bound (Michelmann 2009; Criekemans 2010). The international actions of these minority nations have been characterised under the umbrella of "identity paradiplomacy" (Paquin 2003); that is, a willingness to use international relations to foster a nation-building process within a multinational state. This observation was particularly prevalent for minority nations strongly in competition with a federal government about their nationbuilding process, albeit for different reasons, namely Flanders, Quebec and Scotland (Paquin 2004). The case of Wallonia seems to fits less well into the identity paradiplomacy framework, which therefore raises the question of alternative roads to international relations. This is the core question of this chapter: is identity paradiplomacy the only way to go for minority nations? Quebec and Wallonia are both well known for their active foreign relations.
Political parties are often conceptualized as unitary actors that have consistent preferences. This 'hidden assumption' often turns out to overlook heterogeneity within parties and, therefore, intra-party dynamics in explaining attitudes. Concerning devolution and federalisation, parties or MP's belonging to the same region are also often implicitly considered as having homogeneous viewpoints and attitudes. Relying on an original MPs survey carried out during the Belgian political gridlock of 2010-2011, this article uncovers some of the key dimensions of the intra-party dynamics through the analysis of MPs' preferences towards institutional reform in Belgium. Far from being explained by party or community lines, our results demonstrate how MPs' political and sociological background, national/regional identity, political career and inter-community relations strongly shape their preferences.
The Red Devils, chocolate or beer and the King, such is the typical answers given to the oft-asked question of what is still holding Belgium together. To these three symbols, two extra elements are often added: the debt and Brussels, the capital of the country and of the Flemish Region/Community, the French Community (politically but not constitutionally the Wallonia-Brussels Federation), the European Union (to be more specific, one of the three capitals, along with Strasbourg and Luxemburg), while being as well the seat of the Brussels Capital Region. Generally, the list of factors of unity in Belgium ends with this short list. Is it already too long, or on the contrary, is it really too short? This is the main question of this chapter. Paradoxically, although this question often arises, there are very few scientific writings analyzing it. To do so, this chapter will discuss six sets of factors: historical, identity, socio-economic, political, international and symbolic. Nonetheless, it is important to take into account that such enterprise seeks to be informative and not prescriptive. This chapter does not assume that Belgium should be united. There are several points of view about what Belgium should be, and this contribution merely wishes to nurture the political debate by conveying an original approach on six types of factors.
After years of political crises and negotiations, the deep-rooted conflict between Dutch- and French-speaking parties recently led to the 2011 agreement concerning a further reform of the Belgian state. This reform mainly furthers decentralises the – already federal – state structure, including the allocation of additional competences and fiscal powers to sub-national entities (Regions and Communities). But this new state reform also brings about a radical reform of the upper house: the Belgian Senate. Since 1995, the Senate was composed of three different types of members: Senators directly elected by two linguistically separated electorate (the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking electorates), Senators indirectly elected by the Community parliaments and Senators coopted by the two other types. The French- and German-speaking linguistic minorities had a fixed amount of seats in this assembly. The reform of the state radically changed the legislative competences of the Senate and its composition as its members will now be designated by Regional and Community parliaments (plus 10 coopted senators). Broadly speaking, the appointment of the majority of the Senators moved from a system of direct and language-based election to a system of indirect and mixed regional and language-based designation. This change is not without consequence for the representation of linguistic minorities. In May 2014, regional, community and federal elections will be organised in Belgium, testing for the first time this new system of designation of Senators by regional and community parliaments. This paper intends to present the 2013 reform of the Senate in Belgium and its consequence for the representation of linguistic minorities. The situations before and after the reform of the Senate will be compared, not only in terms of the way Senators are appointed but in terms of its consequence on the linguistic aspects of the regional and community elections campaign and of the profile of the appointed Senators.
In May 2014 and for the second time in her political history, regional, federal and European elections were organized simultaneously in Belgium. In the direct follow-up of the sixth state reform that increased the powers and the autonomy of the Belgian Regions and Communities, these elections were crucial for the future of the country and for the multi-level coalition formation at the regional and federal levels. The political campaign was dominated by socio-economic issues and demands for further autonomy, particularly in the Flemish region. Regional electoral results confirmed the success of the regionalist parties in Flanders, but also in Brussels and in the German-speaking community. These successes allowed regionalist parties to enter all regional and federal governments – often as the dominant party – with the exception of the Walloon and the French-speaking Community cabinets.
The EUROSUR system is supposed to further the surveillance of external borders of European Union Member States. From this point of view, it can be considered an important step in the construction of a controlled space. Drawing inspiration from the Foucauldian attention to programs and technologies, and mobilizing the Actor- Network-Theory concepts of setting and actant, the paper investigates EUROSUR main methodological operations. It highlights how the making of a controlled space is, first and foremost, a mise-en-discours going well beyond surveillance and pro- hibition: a continuous effort to make sense of a disparate multiplicity, encompassing both human and nonhuman elements, both controlled and controlling ones. From a theoretical perspective, the chapter contributes to on-going endeavors to reinvigor- ate the post-structuralist studies of International Relations with approaches inspired by Actor-Network-Theory.
Rad počiva na ideji evropskog kulturnog identiteta, pojma koji se, poslednjih decenija posebno, etablirao kao važno uporište evropske političke zajednice, zajedničkih evropskih vrednosti ali i značajnih drugosti koje uprkos heterogenosti i asimetričnosti prisutnih kultura, zajedno tvore jedinstveni evropski kulturno-istorijski prostor Evrope. Različiti integrativni procesi koji se danas sve intenzivnije odvijaju, doprinose brzoj promeni konstelacija društava i re-konfiguraciji geopolitičkog, socio-ekonomskog i kulturnog ambijenta Evrope, tražeći novo sagledavanje tvorbe evropskog kulturnog identiteta koji nastaje kao rezultat tih različitih kretanja. Medij filma stoga, predstavlja idealnu perspektivu sagledavanja tvorbe evropskog transnacionanog kulturnog identiteta. Pitanje (ne)postojanja evropskog identiteta sagledano je kroz korpus teorija studija filma i medija i drugih, a na primerima dvadeset sedam (27) filmova laureata godišnje nagrade za najbolji evropski film (EFAs), Evropske filmske akademije (EFA), u periodu 1989–2014. godine, čiji su autori, između ostalih, Pedro Almodovar (Pedro Almodovar), Mihael haneke (Michael Haneke), Paolo Sorentino (Paolo Sorrentino), Lars fon Trir (Lars von Trier, i drugi. U ovoj disertaciji, evropski kulturni identitet sagledan je kroz filmske i kinematografske upise, preko kategorija identitetske drugosti, akcentovanih i asimilovanih identiteta, kao i preko elemenata (ko)produkcione drugosti. U istraživanju smo pošli od pretpostavke da filmovi nagrađeni za najbolji evropski fil nagradom EFAs nose elemente narativa interne drugosti, duboko podeljene Evrope, koji učestvuju u konstrukciji evropskog kulturno supra-identiteta u/na filmu kao i da se evropksi kulturni identitet u filmskim ostvarenjima laureata EFAs, gradi kroz dijalog Evrope, odnosno Evropske unije sa nacionalnim kinematografijama. Sa tog polazišta pristupilo se i istraživanju fenomena evropskog kulturnog identiteta drugosti. Cilj istraživanja bio je da se u kontekstu društveno-istorijskih i političkih procesa identifikuju i objasne elementi građenja identiteta kao i da se istakne uloga drugosti u formiranju evropskog kulturnog identiteta. Istraživačka pitanja u vezi sa odnosima međuzavisnosti koje formiraju pojmovi Evropa, identitet, drugost, evropski film i evropska nagrada u građenju prepoznatljivog fenomena evropskog kulturnog identiteta i fenomena evropskog filma. Problemska osnova na temelju koje je strukturisana analiza i sistematizovani naslovi nagrađenih filmskih ostvarenja u studiji slučaja, izvedena je iz teorijskih postavki koje se odnose na sledeće fenomene i pojmove: fazu ogledala Žaka Lakana (Jacques Lacan), heterotopije Mišela Fukoa (Michael Foucault), deteritorijalizacije / nomadizma Žila Deleza i Feliksa Gatarija ( Jules Deleuze / Félix Guattari), granice Jurija Lotmana (Yuri Lottman) i liminalnosti Arnolda van Genepa (Arnold van Gennep), kao postuliranje postmodernističkih tendencija u kojima se reflektuje pitanje (evropskog) kulturnog identiteta, primenjeno na polje filmske odnosno ekranske umetnosti. Svedoci smo da se u složenim procesima integracije i previranja nacionalnih i transnacionalnih tokova u Evropi, u periodu nakon pada Berlinskog zida (1989–2014), evropski kulturni identitet u/na filmu iznova konstruisao kroz narative drugosti, rezultirajući višestrukim akcentovanim i asimilovanim identitetima, što se pokazuje na primerima filmskih ostvarenja nagrađenih za najbolji evropski film EFAs. Činjenica je da značajne evrospke institucije u svojim dokumentima evropski identitet navode kao realitet, uprkos činjenici da sama konstrukcija evropskog identiteta ukazuje na (nezavršen) permanentan proces. Temeljne pretpostavke ovog istraživana su stoga: 1. nije reč o (id)entitetu kao o datosti; 2. identitet se gradi u društvenoj interakciji; 3. drugosti su sastavni deo (kulturnog) identiteta; 4. razlikama se obogaćuju i druge kulture; 5. evropski kulturni identitet je proces tj. gradilište u permanentnom nastajanju. Ishod analitičko-istraživačkog procesa je potvrđivanje da evropski kulturni identitet jeste skup različitosti tj. drugosti koje tvore jedan entitet, evropski kulturni identitet, koji međutim nije moguće fiksirati i precizno definisati, te on nadalje ostaje fenomen otvoren za različite interpretacije. ; The work is based on the idea of European cultural identity, a concept that, in recent decades, in particular, has established itself as an important mainstay of the European political community, common European values but also significant otherness which, despite the heterogeneity and asymmetry of present cultures, together form a unique cultural and historical space of Europe. The various integrative processes that are increasingly intensifying nowadays contribute to the rapid change of constellations of societies and re-configuration of the geopolitical, socioeconomic and cultural environment of Europe, seeking a new perception and definition of both national and European cultural identity that ensues from these various developments. The medium of film, therefore, represents an ideal perspective of perceiving the creation of a European transnational cultural identity. The issue of (non)existence of European identity is considered through a corpus of theories of Film and Media Studies and others, and on the examples of twenty-seven (27) films, laureates of the annual award for the best European film (EFAs) of the European Film Academy (EFA) in the period 1989−2014, whose authors are, among others, Pedro Almodovar, Michael Haneke, Paolo Sorrentino, Lars von Trier and others. In this dissertation, European cultural identity is viewed through film and cinematic inscriptions, through the categories of identity otherness, accented and assimilated identities, as well as through the elements of (co)production otherness. In the research we started from the assumption that the films awarded for the best European film by the EFAs award carry elements of narratives of internal otherness, of a deeply divided Europe, which participate in the construction of European cultural supra-identity in/on film and that European cultural identity in the film achievements of EFAs laureates is built through the dialogue of Europe, i.e. the European Union with national cinemas. That was the starting point for the research of the phenomenon of the European cultural identity of otherness. The aim of the research was to identify and explain the elements of identity construction in the context of socio-historical and political processes, as well as to emphasize the role of otherness in the formation of European cultural identity. Research questions are related to the interdependence relations formed by the concepts of Europe, identity, otherness, European film and the European award in building a recognizable phenomenon of European cultural identity and the phenomenon of European film. The problem basis on which the analysis and systematized titles of the awarded film achievements in the case study are structured is derived from theoretical assumptions related to the following phenomena and concepts: Jacques Lacan's mirror phase, Michael Foucault's heterotopias, deterritorialization and the nomadism of Jules Deleuze and Félix Guattari, the boundaries of Yuri Lottman and the liminality of Arnold van Gennep, as a postulation of postmodernist tendencies that reflect the question of (European) cultural identity, applied to the field of film or screen arts. We are witnesses that in the complex processes of integration and turmoil of national and transnational trends in Europe, in the period after the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989–2014), European cultural identity in/on film was reconstructed through narratives of otherness, resulting in multiple accented and assimilated identities, as shown by examples of film achievements awarded with EFAs for the best European film. The fact is that important European institutions recognize European identity as a reality in their documents, despite the fact that the very construction of European identity indicates a(n) (unfinished) permanent process. The basic assumptions of this research are therefore: 1. it is not about (id)entity as a given; 2. identity is built in social interaction; 3. otherness is an integral part of (cultural) identity; 4. differences also enrich other cultures; 5. European cultural identity is a process, i.e. a permanent construction site. The outcome of the analytical-research process is the confirmation that the European cultural identity is a set of differences/othernesses that form one entity, the European cultural identity, which, however, cannot be fixed and precisely defined, and it still remains a phenomenon open to different interpretations.