Political History of Belgium

Illustrating the tension of politics in contemporary Belgium, this historical perspective chronicles the growth of Belgium throughout the past two centuries. From its early industrialization to its status as the most globalized country in the world, Belgium has always been a forerunner in liberalism and social security, even thoughout the world wars. But the country’s “democracy of pacification” has led to a highly pluralist stance in which ardent social-economic conflicts have led to a well-functioning consensus and welfare state, where two cultures live side by side. This chronological analysis reveals how these two cultures—the economically, politically, and culturally less-developed Flemish majority and the Walloon minority—underwent a process of equalization that brought about a new federal model, in which a cosmopolitan Brussels became one of the most important international political centers in the world.

Els Witte is a professor, a historian, and the former vice-chancellor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). She is director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Study of the Brussels Language Situation. Jan Craeybeckx is professor doctor emeritus at the department of history at the VUB. Alain Meynen is a historian who works at the Documentation Centre and Archive of the Communist Movement in Belgium.