Suchergebnisse

Corporatist opposition against a system of proportional representation in Belgium can essentially be reduced to the opposition by Joris Helleputte. Antiproportionalism was mainly due to a fear that proportionalism would endanger the growth of a Catholic corporatist party. In the struggle concerning introduction of proportional representation, 2 periods can be distinguished: before 1895 & after 1895, when Helleputte resigned as president of the Belgische Volksbond. Even after 1895 Helleputte continued his struggle, together with Charles Woeste. They proposed that Parliament institute a uninominal system, but this proposal did not receive sufficient support & proportional representation for legislative elections was introduced in 1899. Modified HA.

In this essay, I argue that the alleged failure of the Copenhagen climate summit in December 2009, rather than labelling it as the collapse of climate politics, should be embraced as an essential political fact. Admittedly, Copenhagen was a failure, albeit of a populist consensual policy practice that invokes an apocalyptic doomsday scenario to make everybody toe the neo-liberal line. In my view, consensus-driven UN policy is running into its own limits as was clearly illustrated at the climate summit in Cancun (December 2010) where the blame was pinned on Bolivia for its fierce resistance against a weak agreement. The time has come to revive the climate and, by extension, the environment as a matter of genuine political concern, open to struggle and contestation, in this way constituting an essential component of social change. Adapted from the source document.

Professors and octopuses have one thing in common: They both know how to use ink in order to produce clouds that hide the truth from those not supposed to see it. German professors in particular made ample use of this technique when they were required by law to implement the so-called Bolognareform, a wide-ranging overhaul of most elements of teaching 'as they knew it'. As quickly became evident, the hitch with Bologna is this: If taken seriously, it cannot but devalue essential investments, intellectual as well as habitual, individual as well as institutional, that have 'framed' the professorial way of life. Hence this new policy was considered an unreasonable demand and an intolerable intrusion. Almost everyone felt victimized, pondered inner emigration or even open resistance, and invented nobler causes for this than his own comfort. The reformers were in a position to enforce compliance with the letter, if not the spirit, of the law. In return, their opponents did what was in their power -- while adhering to the letter -- to kill its spirit. Adapted from the source document.

This article is focused on Professor Buikema's intellectual oeuvre and the relation between art and politics as it materialised in MOED (Museum of Equality and Difference). Astrid Kerchman and Rosa Wevers, MOED's former project coordinators, reflect on their collaboration with Buikema through an interview with artist Iris Kensmil on the important role of art in complex social issues relating to emancipation, representation, and resistance. Drawing on the interview with Kensmil and Buikema's Revolts in Cultural Critique (2020), Alessandra Benedicty-Kokken reflects on the meaning of feminist leadership within an institutional context.

An object of resistance: Working with contested research objects
Qualitative methods have always been sensitive to the relationship between the researcher and the research object. Reflecting on the role of the researcher in the construction of the object of research is an important condition and an indicator of a study's quality. Yet some research objects are difficult to pin down or even relate to, due to their heavily contested nature and context, which makes reflexivity challenging. In this article, I describe my struggles in relating to my research object and I suggest some ways in which qualitative researchers may work with contested research objects in a productive way.

In 1975/76, the Belgian government gave high priority to the restructuring of local government. By means of mergers, the total number of communes decreased from 2,359 to 596. The decision-making process that led to the mergers is studied. The single most important factor was the personality of & the initiatives taken by the Minister of the Interior. He dealt with the delimitation of the new communes as well as personnel, finances, & transfer of goods. Local governments had only the option of advising on the delimitation of the new communes' territory (in some cases even that option was de facto & denied to them). These new delimitations were approved by the legislative assemblies at the end of 1975, after difficult & heated debates. At the same time, important resistance to the mergers developed on the part of the communes & opposition parties, particularly the Belgian Socialist Party, which did not participate in the government that drew the new map of communes according to its own objectives. Opposition parties were in agreement with the principle of the mergers; they mainly contested the way in which they were executed. Abolition of the federations of communes around the Brussels agglomeration, which was decided at the same time, must be understood in the context of the typically Belgian problem of the coexistence of two different linguistic groups. Modified HA.