The Right Wing Parties Dynamic between the Economic and the Identity Discourse: Case study - Belgium

Abstract

Latest developments of the global economic crisis but also the way people use to build their perception on their own identity brought interesting developments in the political sphere. Thus, Belgian right wings parties have amplified the identity discourse. Belgian political crisis is an interesting example in terms of political reconciliation. The problem became so acute that makes discussion on Belgian state dissolution/dividing to be almost trivial. Interrogation on problems like: should regionalization be a priority? Which will be the future of federal state concepts? It is the question about social solidarity or about autonomy and regional development? What kind of news can occur in institutional organization? The problem is not really the way the two communities (Flemish and Walloons) can live together separately in a federation, each speaking its own language, building a separate culture, having own perception of things. The most difficult to manage is the problem of economic redistribution. This and no other disagreements made the issue of the Belgian state segregation to be worthy of discussion. Centrifugal dynamics that happen in Europe lately are signs of rethinking their identity. The idea of confederalism in the case study on Belgium appears to be a possible solution to the crisis problem and generate a new and radical reform of the state.

Keywords

• centrifugal dynamics
• confederalism
• identity discourse
• economic crisis
• political crisis