Articles

Het strijdpunt als besluitvormingstype in de Belgische politiek

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Abstract

Within the Belgian political system political issues are hard to deal with. The institutions do not provide a problem-solving mechanism : no ref erendum, no direct election of a one-party cabinet. Moreover, electoral campaigns usually involve a lot of heterogeneous issues and almost never focus upon a single one. Active political participation of citizens is, by definition, selective and, compared with electoral participation, limited, although, the number of people taking part in a political demonstration is sometimes considerable. An investigation of the Belgian political elite shows that active political participation, sparked off by a single issue, can be considered as one of the most polyarchie types of political decision-making in Belgium. This involves an increase of tension and conflict, a slowing down of the process of decision-making and a selective accessibility to this type of participation. Belgian politicians try to avoid these difficulties by either opting for non-decision or consociational politics.

How to Cite:

Dewachter, W., (1989) “Het strijdpunt als besluitvormingstype in de Belgische politiek”, Res Publica 31(4), 527-550. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/rp.v31i4.18860