Suchergebnisse

L'article étudie les quotas adoptés par les partis politiques belges. Les sections locales de parti ayant décrété des mesures supplémentaires étaient beaucoup plus nombreuses lors des élections locales en 2006 que lors des élections locales précédentes en 2000, ce qui indique que les partis politiques intègrent davantage la notion d'égalité. Par contre, les sections sont peu enthousiastes de trouver un meilleur équilibre par le biais de nouvelles mesures pour les fonctions élevées ou peu nombreuses. Une analyse mesurant l'impact du nombre de positions disponibles confirme une présence accrue de quotas au sein de sections locales disposant d'un nombre relativement élevé de positions. Les quotas se font aussi plus facilement accepter dans un climat idéologique imbibé par les notions d'égalité et dans un contexte où les femmes ont déjà balisé le chemin.

This article examines the gender quotas in Belgian parties. In the 2006 municipal elections many more local party sections had implemented such measures than in the preceding elections in 2000, which indicates a tendency to integrate the notion of equality. However, the local sections exhibit less enthusiasm when it comes to quotas improving the gender balance in higher party offices. Our analysis shows that local sections have more offices at their disposal are more likely to implement quotas. Quotas are accepted more easily when equality is an important issue within the party's respective ideology, or when the way towards equality has already been paved by women. Adapted from the source document.

Although compulsory voting constitutes one of the main characteristics of the Belgian electoral system, the last general election results pointed out that nearly 11 pct. of the registered voters did not show up at the ballot station and that nearly 6 pct. of the voters casted a blanc or invalid vote. Most of the recent research on electoral participation focuses on the importance of individual (social-demographic and social-psychological) variables and political attitudes to explain turnout. Less attention is paid to the influence of the broader social, cultural, institutional and political context variables on turnout. Yet, local elections allow researchers to analyse electoral participation taking particular local political, social, cultural and institutional factors into account. To explain turnout at the local level, this paper examines the relevance of: 1. Social demographic variables: size, age-structure, SES-distribution, ethnic-cultural diversity; 2. Social capital variables: number of volunteer organisations; 3. Political variables: number of parties, fractionalisation, type of majority, presence and importance of anti-system parties; 4. Electoral technology: use of electronic voting. This types of variables will be used to analyse variation of electoral absenteeism as well as blanc/invalid voting in recent local elections in Flanders.

The enhancement of the quality of life is implicitly seen by (local) governments as a touchstone of the effects of their policies. Nevertheless, there is little clarity about the social-scientific methods to measure it. In this contribution we examine the merits and demerits of the different scientific methods to measure the quality of life. The central theme is the discrepancy between the use of objective (economical or social) indicators on the one hand and subjective indicators on the other. The empirical part of our contribution is an illustration of how subjective indicators are used to measure the effects of local policy. It contains, in particular, a survey analysis in three Flemish cities (Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp). The results show that the determinants of the perceived quality of life do not conform with those that define the satisfaction with the local policy. In conclusion, besides factors that are endogenous to the policy, so-called exogenous factors must be taken into account in order to study the effects of local policy.