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Asymmetric Federalism and Coalition-Making in Belgium

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  • Wilfried Swenden

Abstract

This article examines the asymmetric aspects of Belgian federalism. The term “asymmetry” covers many meanings. The cultural, socioeconomic, political party, and formal-institutional differences between the regions of the Belgian federation clearly make Belgium a strong case of asymmetry. However, these asymmetric features have largely been neutralized by preferences of the major-party leaders for building symmetric or congruent government coalitions in the federal and regional arenas. The article not only explains why Belgian party elites have acted accordingly but also demonstrates that the genuine meaning of asymmetry cannot be understood properly without putting the concept of asymmetry into the framework of party politics. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.

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  • Wilfried Swenden, 2002. "Asymmetric Federalism and Coalition-Making in Belgium," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 32(3), pages 67-88, Summer.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:32:y:2002:i:3:p:67-88
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    Cited by:

    1. Muhammad Tariq, 2020. "The Concept of Symmetry and Asymmetry in Federalism with a brief sketch of Economic Federalism," Global Economics Review, Humanity Only, vol. 5(1), pages 166-176, March.
    2. Benny Geys & Jan Vermeir, 2014. "Party Cues In Elections Under Multilevel Governance: Theory And Evidence From Us States," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 1029-1058, August.
    3. Stefan Wolff & Simona Ross & Asbjorn Wee, 2020. "Subnational Governance and Conflict," World Bank Publications - Reports 34436, The World Bank Group.

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