Euroscepticism has long been absent among Belgian political parties. However, since the start of the century, some Eurosceptic challengers have risen. This article examines the effect of Eurosceptic competition on the salience other parties give to the EU and on the positions these parties take in parliament. Using a sample of plenary debates in the federal and regional parliaments, we track each party’s evolution from 2000 until 2019. Our findings both contradict and qualify existing theories and findings on Eurosceptic competition. When facing Eurosceptic challengers, all parties raise salience fairly equally, but government and peripheral parties adopted (soft) Euroscepticism more often than other parties. |
Search result: 231 articles
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Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 1 2022 |
Keywords | Euroscepticism, parliaments, party competition, Belgium, federalism |
Authors | Jordy Weyns and Peter Bursens |
AbstractAuthor's information |
Article |
Morality in the Populist Radical RightA Computer-Assisted Morality Frame Analysis of a Prototype |
Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 1 2022 |
Keywords | Populist radical right, morality, frame analysis, word2vec, crimmigration |
Authors | Job P.H. Vossen |
AbstractAuthor's information |
This article provides a computer-assisted morality framing analysis of Vlaams Belang’s 2019 manifesto. The VB is regarded in the literature as a prototypical example of the Populist Radical Right (PRR). We first concisely review what PRR politics is and what it consists of, tentatively distinguishing four elements that we hypothesise will materialise in corresponding subframes running throughout the manifesto. We point to a mismatch between the omnipresent role of morality in all PRR subframes and the little attention devoted to the concept in the PRR literature. We introduce a useful theory from social psychology into framing literature to create a novel methodological approach to frame analysis that builds a bridge between a qualitative content and a quantitative context approach. The results support our hypothesis that populism, nationalism, nativism and authoritarianism can be distinguished from one another. Additionally, we detect a fifth PRR subframe, crimmigration, by its unique role of morality. |
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Journal | East European Yearbook on Human Rights, Issue 1 2021 |
Authors | Matthias C. Kettemann and Martin Fertmann |
AbstractAuthor's information |
This study explores the spread of disinformation relating to the Covid-19 pandemic on the internet, dubbed by some as the pandemic’s accompanying “infodemic”, and the societal reactions to this development across different countries and platforms. The study’s focus is on the role of states and platforms in combatting online disinformation. |
Article |
Legal Tradition and Human RightsA Quantitative Comparative Analysis of Developing Countries |
Journal | European Journal of Law Reform, Issue 3 2021 |
Keywords | comparative law, comparative constitutional analysis, human rights, legal traditions, quantitative constitutional analysis, economic rights, social and family rights, civil and political rights |
Authors | Dhanraj R. Singh |
AbstractAuthor's information |
This analysis examines the relationship between legal tradition and constitutional human rights. It experiments with a quantitative comparative methodology to compare economic rights, social and family rights, and civil and political rights between countries with common law, civil law and mixed law legal traditions. The results show that developing countries with a civil law legal tradition provide more constitutional human rights than their counterparts with a common law legal tradition. Although preliminary and imperfect, the results challenge the notion of superiority of the common law legal tradition and human rights. The quantitative comparative framework used offers a new methodological frontier for comparative constitutional law researchers to examine relationships between legal traditions. |
Article |
Sustainability in Global Supply Chains Under the CISG |
Journal | European Journal of Law Reform, Issue 3 2021 |
Keywords | CISG, sustainability, supply chains, UN Global Compact, Codes of Conduct, conformity of the goods |
Authors | Ingeborg Schwenzer and Edgardo Muñoz |
AbstractAuthor's information |
In this article, the authors assert that the United Nations Convention for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) can contribute to tackling gaps in statutory legislation and defective business conduct that have been associated with unsustainable trade in Global Supply Chains (GSCs). The authors provide evidence that the CISG contains rules enabling a general legal framework for establishing uniform sustainable standards for goods concerning suppliers, sellers and buyers located in different countries. For instance, the CISG provisions on contract formation ease the incorporation of joint codes of conduct for sustainable trade in GSCs. In addition, the contracting parties’ circumstances and current trade usages are now more relevant to determine what constitutes conformity of the goods under the contract and the default warranties in Article 35 CISG. On the level of remedies, the authors show that best-efforts provisions, possibly included in a code of conduct or inferred from standards applicable to the goods, may redefine the notion of impediment in Article 79 CISG, which could lead to exoneration of liability for the seller. They also demonstrate why fundamental breach and the calculation of damages are at the centre of the discussion regarding the remedies for breach of an obligation to deliver sustainable goods. |
Developments in International Law |
Is the World Ready to Overcome the Thesis of the Clash of Civilizations? |
Journal | Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law, Issue 1 2021 |
Keywords | clash of civilizations, end of history, tragedy of great power politics, dignity of difference, clash of ignorance |
Authors | István Lakatos |
AbstractAuthor's information |
The article provides a critical overview of the Clash of Civilizations theory by Samuel Huntington, but in this context it also addresses two other important books also aimed at finding the correct answers to the new challenges of the post-Cold War era; Huntington’s work was also an answer to their thesis. They are Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man, and John Mearsheimer’s The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. I argue that neither the Clash of Civilizations nor the End of History theses correctly captures the complexity of our contemporary social and political life, as they are both based on the assumption of the superiority of the West and the inferiority of the Rest. |
Public Health Emergency: National, European and International Law Responses |
Defining the Common European Way of LifeExploring the Concept of Europeanness |
Journal | Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law, Issue 1 2021 |
Keywords | European identity, Common European Way of Life, coronavirus, European citizenship, Hungary, enlargement policy, Europeanness |
Authors | Lilla Nóra Kiss and Orsolya Johanna Sziebig |
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The article focuses on the interpretation of the European Way of Life and the concept of Europeanness. Ursula von der Leyen determined the Promotion of the European Way of Life as a priority of the 2019-2024 Commission. The purpose behind this was to strengthen European democracy and place the citizens into the center of decision-making. The article examines the role of European identity, European citizenship and those historical-traditional conditions that make our way of life ‘common’. The Common European Way of Life may be defined as a value system based on the established legal basis of EU citizenship that can be grasped in the pursuit of common principles and the exercise of rights guaranteed to all EU citizens, limited only under exceptional circumstances and ensuring socio-economic convergence. The article covers general conceptual issues but also focuses on the extraordinary impact of the COVID-19. Lastly, the relevant aspects of enlargement policy are also explored. |
Developments in European Law |
The Possibility of Using Article 72 TFEU as a Conflict-of-Law RuleHungary Seeking Derogation from EU Asylum Law |
Journal | Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law, Issue 1 2021 |
Keywords | Article 72 TFEU, internal security, conflict of law, Common European Asylum System, relocation decisions |
Authors | Ágnes Töttős |
AbstractAuthor's information |
The purpose of this article is to examine how the CJEU circumscribed the room for maneuver of Member States for safeguarding their internal security and whether the use of and reference to Article 72 TFEU changed over the past years. The starting point of the analysis is the Hungarian asylum infringement case: the article looks back at earlier case-law and identifies how the reference to Article 72 TFEU shifted from considering it an implementation clause to the attempts at using it as a conflict-of-law rule. Although the article finds that the CJEU reduced the scope of possibly using Article 72 TFEU as a conflict-of-law rule and practically excludes its application by the setting high standards for this unique form of application, the article examines some extreme situations from 2020 where it could be validly referred to. |
Anniversary: Commemorating the 90th Birthday of Ferenc Mádl, President of the Republic (2000-2005) |
Back to the Future: Ferenc Mádl, The Law of the European Economic Community (1974)Investment Protection Then and Now |
Journal | Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law, Issue 1 2021 |
Keywords | Ferenc Mádl, investment protection, SEGRO and Horváth, Achmea, BIT |
Authors | Miklós Király |
AbstractAuthor's information |
The first part of the article (Sections 1-2) reviews Prof. Ferenc Mádl’s magnum opus, published in 1974, emphasizing the importance of the monograph’s publication in the communist era. It discusses the unique structure of the volume, which, from the perspective of undertakings and companies, examined the fundamental economic freedoms and EEC competition law in parallel. The second part (Sections 3-5) highlights the issue of investment protection, noting that Mádl’s early academic theorem has been vindicated decades later by the case-law of the CJEU, in particular in its SEGRO and Horváth judgment: Provisions ensuring free movement of capital serve to protect foreign investments as well. |
Editorial |
Editorial Comments: COVID-19 – EU Citizenship and the Right to Free Movement in a Public Health CrisisForeword to Vol. 9 (2021) of the Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law |
Journal | Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law, Issue 1 2021 |
Authors | Laura Gyeney |
Author's information |
Review of Hungarian Scholarly Literature |
Tamás Molnár, The Interplay Between the EU’s Return Acquis and International Law (Book Review)Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2021, 272 p, ISBN 978-1-83910-522-7 |
Journal | Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law, Issue 1 2021 |
Authors | Izabella Majcher |
Author's information |
Public Health Emergency: National, European and International Law Responses |
Support for FamiliesA Way to Tackle COVID-19 and Its Implications in Hungary |
Journal | Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law, Issue 1 2021 |
Keywords | family, children, vulnerable groups, social protection, housing benefits, labor market |
Authors | Éva Gellérné Lukács |
AbstractAuthor's information |
COVID-19 poses a huge challenge for families and children; their exposure to economic, social and mental hardship is considerable and is confirmed by several studies. The pandemic pushes governments to allocate resources to the economy, but it is equally important to invest in the future by supporting families and children. The article outlines general tendencies in the EU and reflects on Hungarian measures in this field. During the first, second and third waves of COVID-19, a wide range of measures were introduced in Hungary. By extending the eligibility periods of family benefits for families with small children (both social insurance contribution-based and universal benefits) approximately 40,000 families (households) were covered. During the first and second COVID-19 waves, not only did the government extend benefit eligibility, but it also announced several new or renewed measures related to cash benefits and housing for families with at least one economically active parent. During the third wave eligibility periods of family benefits have again been extended. On the other hand, the unemployment benefit system remained intact, labor market pitfalls were addressed by providing wage subsidies. |
Article |
Opposition in Times of COVID-19 – To Support or Not to Support? |
Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 2 2021 |
Keywords | minority government, rally-around-the-flag, COVID-19, mainstream parties, challenger parties, opposition, party goals |
Authors | Britt Vande Walle, Wouter Wolfs and Steven Van Hecke |
AbstractAuthor's information |
COVID-19 has hit many countries all over the world, and its impact on (party) politics has been undeniable. This crisis situation functions as an opportunity structure incentivising opposition forces to support the government. Not much is known about what drives opposition parties to (not) support the government in crisis situations. This article integrates the literature on rally-around-the-flag, political opportunity structures, party types and party goals. More specifically, we focus on the behaviour of opposition parties towards the government’s crisis response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse whether and how the party type influences the position of the party vis-à-vis the governmental coalition, focusing on the case of Belgium. We categorise the seven opposition parties in Belgium as challenger or mainstream parties and explain their behaviour on the basis of policy-, office- or vote-seeking motives. Our analysis is based on party voting behaviour, elite interviews and an analysis of the main plenary debates. |
Article |
‘Think Like Me, and I Will Trust You’The Effects of Policy Opinion Congruence on Citizens’ Trust in the Parliament |
Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 3 2021 |
Keywords | political representation, parliaments, opinion congruence, political trust, public opinion |
Authors | Awenig Marié and David Talukder |
AbstractAuthor's information |
Do citizens with a lower level of political representation evaluate political actors more negatively? While the literature has documented inequalities in political representation, less attention has been given to the extent to which different levels of representation affect citizens’ levels of political trust. We aimed to fill this gap by analysing whether Belgian citizens with a lower level of policy opinion congruence with their party’s legislators have lower levels of trust in the parliament. Our results show that policy opinion congruence has a positive impact on citizens’ political attitudes. Indeed, citizens with policy preferences closer to those of their political representatives tend to have higher levels of trust in the parliament. This relationship depends on political sophistication: policy opinion congruence affects political trust for most citizens except those who consider themselves to be ‘very interested’ in politics. Citizens with a very high level of interest in politics trust the parliament regardless of policy opinion congruence with their party’s legislators. |
Article |
Cancelling proposed debatesAgenda Setting, Issue Ownership and Anti-elitist Parliamentary Style |
Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 3 2021 |
Keywords | agenda-setting, parliaments, anti-elitism, issue-ownership |
Authors | Simon Otjes and Roy Doedens |
AbstractAuthor's information |
The Dutch Tweede Kamer is unique among parliaments because here the agenda is actually determined in a public, plenary meeting of all MPs. In the Dutch Tweede Kamer 30 members of parliament (MPs) can request a plenary debate. Many opposition parties request these debates, but only 23% of these are actually held. We examine the question ‘under what conditions do political party groups cancel or maintain proposals for minority debates?’ as a way to gain insight into the black box of parliamentary agenda setting. We examine two complementary explanations: issue competition and parliamentary style. We trace all 687 minority debates that were proposed between 2012 and 2021 in the Netherlands. This allows us to see what proposals for debates MPs make and when they are retracted. We find strong evidence that anti-elitist parties maintain more debate proposals than do other parties |
Article |
Performing the COVID-19 Crisis in Flemish Populist Radical-Right DiscourseA Case Study of Vlaams Belang’s Coronablunderboek |
Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 2 2021 |
Keywords | populism, COVID-19, crisis, discourse |
Authors | Jens Meijen |
AbstractAuthor's information |
In June 2020, the Flemish populist radical right party Vlaams Belang (VB) published the Corona Blunder Book (CBB; Coronablunderboek in Dutch), detailing the government’s mistakes in handling the COVID-19 crisis. Populist parties can ‘perform’ crisis by emphasising the mistakes made by opponents (Moffitt, 2015) and may use a specifically populist discursive style, consisting largely of aggressive and sarcastic language (Brubaker, 2017). This paper takes the CBB as a case study in the populist performance of crisis and the populist style, finding that the book is, first, a clear example of populist ‘everyman’ stylistics and the performance of crisis, and, second, that VB uses the book to shift the COVID-19 crisis from a public health crisis to a crisis of governance, seeking to blame Belgium’s federal structure for the government’s alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic and hence arguing for Flemish independence, one of the party’s main agenda points. |
Article |
Democratic Scrutiny of COVID-19 LawsAre Parliamentary Committees Up to the Job? |
Journal | European Journal of Law Reform, Issue 2 2021 |
Keywords | parliament, scrutiny, committees, COVID-19, rights, legislation, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom |
Authors | Sarah Moulds |
AbstractAuthor's information |
In response to the complex and potentially devastating threat posed by COVID-19, parliaments around the world have transferred unprecedented powers to executive governments and their agencies (Edgar, ‘Law-making in a Crisis’, 2020), often with the full support of the communities they represent. These laws were passed within days, sometimes hours, with limited safeguards and a heavy reliance on sunsetting provisions, some of which are dependent on the pandemic being officially called to an end. While parliaments themselves have suspended or reduced sitting days (Twomey, ‘A Virtual Australian Parliament is Possible’, 2020), parliamentary committees have emerged as the forum of choice when it comes to providing some form of parliamentary oversight of executive action. |
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Journal | Family & Law, June 2021 |
Keywords | Adoption, foster care, guardianship, parental responsibility, supervision orders for minors |
Authors | mr. dr. M.J. Vonk and dr. G.C.A.M. Ruitenberg |
AbstractAuthor's information |
In this article you will be introduced to Martha. Martha will turn eighteen in a couple of weeks and is afraid of losing her foster family when she becomes an adult (I). You will be taken on a journey through the Dutch child protection system and recent research on the desirability of forging an additional legal instrument, such as the introduction of simple adoption, for children like Martha and her two families. The following questions will be answered: How do children like Martha end up in a foster family (II)? Who is responsible or who makes decisions about Martha’s care and future and what problems may occur? Five possible situations in long-term foster care will be discussed in this context on the basis of current law and research (III). Would simple adoption (eenvoudige adoptie) solve some of the problems discussed in the earlier section and thus be a feasible and desirable option for long-term foster children and their foster parents (IV)? At the end of this journey you will be invited to take a brief glance into the future in the hope that Martha’s voice will be heard (V). |
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Journal | Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy, Issue 1 2021 |
Keywords | Liberalism, Illiberalism, Illiberal practices, Extremism, Discrimination |
Authors | Bouke de Vries |
AbstractAuthor's information |
‘Illiberal’ is an adjective that is commonly used by scholars. For example, they might speak of ‘illiberal cultures’, ‘illiberal groups’, ‘illiberal states’, ‘illiberal democracies’, ‘illiberal beliefs’, and ‘illiberal practices’. Yet despite its widespread usage, no in-depth discussions exist of exactly what it means for someone or something to be illiberal, or might mean. This article fills this lacuna by providing a conceptual analysis of the term ‘illiberal practices’, which I argue is basic in that other bearers of the property of being illiberal can be understood by reference to it. Specifically, I identify five ways in which a practice can be illiberal based on the different ways in which this term is employed within both scholarly and political discourses. The main value of this disaggregation lies in the fact that it helps to prevent confusions that arise when people use the adjective ‘illiberal’ in different ways, as is not uncommon. |
Article |
Interest Representation in BelgiumMapping the Size and Diversity of an Interest Group Population in a Multi-layered Neo-corporatist Polity |
Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 1 2021 |
Keywords | interest groups, advocacy, access, advisory councils, media attention |
Authors | Evelien Willems, Jan Beyers and Frederik Heylen |
AbstractAuthor's information |
This article assesses the size and diversity of Belgium’s interest group population by triangulating four data sources. Combining various sources allows us to describe which societal interests get mobilised, which interest organisations become politically active and who gains access to the policy process and obtains news media attention. Unique about the project is the systematic data collection, enabling us to compare interest representation at the national, Flemish and Francophone-Walloon government levels. We find that: (1) the national government level remains an important venue for interest groups, despite the continuous transfer of competences to the subnational and European levels, (2) neo-corporatist mobilisation patterns are a persistent feature of interest representation, despite substantial interest group diversity and (3) interest mobilisation substantially varies across government levels and political-administrative arenas. |