In this paper we look for the factors determining the relative share of preferential votes of individual candidates. We focus on the district council elections in Antwerp that were held in October 2000. The unique aspect of this elections is that they are without precedent and because of this there are strictly speaking no incumbency-effects. Unlike other research that is based only on administrative data, we use survey data for 612 candidates. In this way we enlarge the explanatory potential of our models. Hence, we were able for instance to check the extent to which membership of voluntary associations expands the individual vote share. We fi d that social capital does matter but surprisingly this effect disappears as soon as ballot position effects are taken into account.

This article deals with the question why the war in Yugoslavia (1991-1 995) was hardly an issue in Belgian politics and society. We analyze how the conflict was framed in the newspapers, by opinion-leaders and by the peace movement. We also reconstruct the parliamentary debate: what parliamentary initiatives were taken and which framing of the conflict dominated the discussions. We conclude that the Belgian debate was largely dominated by the realist frame. This was probably a result of the presence of Belgian UN-soldiers in the conflict-zone, of the fact that the peace movement was divided and concentrated on other issues, and of the fact that the interventionist frame was claimed by the extreme rightwing Vlaams Blok party.

This contributions tests the hypotheses that women MPs have a specific potential to 'construct' the represented female citizen. This ste rns from the combination of two theoretical propositions: the thesis that representatives 'create' the represented in the course of the representational process and the statement that women MPs might contribute in a unique way to the substantive representation of women due to a 'shared' life experience. A detailed reading of the interventions of women and men MPs in favour of women over eighty years of budget debates in the Belgian Lower House (1900-1979), learns that women MPs indeed did broaden the construction of the represented women. Independently from the dominant vision with in the parliament or their parliamentary party, they contributed to the construction of the female citizen as mother and wife, with a female specific role in society, and in particular to the construction of women as individuals with equal rights.

Since a few decades, policy evaluation is a main topic in Western democracies. It identifies, measures and appreciates effects, outcomes and impacts of a policy. Yet, there is not a common way to institutionalise that policy instrument; one can observe many differences in terms of its intensity and maturity, as well as a diversity of institutional device. Compared to other countries, Belgium is characterized by a low visibility and weak decisional impact of evaluation. Public demand for enlightening state action rarely takes the form of a demand for evaluation. The word 'Evaluation' is frequently pronounced, but most often in a political sense. In this article three types of arguments can be put forward to explain this Jack of evaluation: a lacking commitment of Parliament and political staff, the fragmentation and weak autonomy of the civil service and the domination of political parties upon the Belgian political and administrative system.

Schools are expected to educate children into democratic citizens by providing "civics" or history courses. It is believed that the formal curriculum affects the amount of cognition of each pupil, which - in its turn - would influence the civic competencies and social attitudes. This supposition is explicitly stated in 'holocaust-education 'programs and in 'civics'-courses. Accordingly, knowledge on the nazi-attrocities would stimulate tolerance, and by this way counter prejudice. The current contribution tests this supposition on survey-data (2002) from 773 Frenchspeakin g and 469 Flemish-speaking last-grade pupils from secondary schools in the Brussels-Capital Region. The survey probed for knowledge on the nazi-genocide and attitudescales (ethnocentrism and anti-democracy). The supposition about the connection between knowledge and tollerance, holds partially for the Flemish, but not for the French-speaking sample. Knowledge may be a necessary, but is certainly nota sufficient condition to foster tolerance.

On 13 June 2003, elections for both the regional parliaments and the European Parliament were held in Belgium. The percentage of voters casting a preferential vote increased when compared with the previous regional and European elections of 1999, reaching scores clearly higher than 60%. The new electoral laws are one explanation for this increase, together with societal evolutions, such as individualism, anti-party feelings, personalization of polities and the appearance of cartels. In comparison with the federal elections of 2003 however, there was a decrease in prererential voting, due to lower campaign expenditures and to the success of parties that traditionally do not attract many preferential votes. Voters can also cast a vote for several candidates figuring on the same party list, which is contrary to the past done quite frequently now. Finally, more candidates than ever succeeded in becoming elected out oî the order of the party list.

In Belgium the European elections and those for the regional councils were held on the same day. The elections of June 13th 2004 deserve a threefold analysis. First a comparison can be made with the results obtained five years ago for the same assemblies. It shows that in Flanders the socialist party has progressed but that this advance was mainly due to the constitution of a cartel with one faction - Spirit - of the defunct Volksunie. The christian democrats made headway, their progress being enhanced by the contribution of N-VA, the other faction stemming from the Volksunie. The liberals declined fairly markedly as did the green party but to a lesser extent than in the elections for the federal parliament. The June 2004 elections saw above all progress for the extreme right Vlaams Blok, which has become the second biggest party of Flanders with 24 pct of the vote. In the Walloon provinces the socialists progress most thereby increasing the gap separating them from the liberals. The christian democrats advance somewhat while the green party Ecolo declines substantially. The parties of the far right gain support and reach 8.73 pct of the vote. In Brussels the socialist advance is very marked allowing this party to conquer first place to the detriment of the liberals who are in decline. The progress made by frenchspeaking christian democrats is significant. A second approach for the analysis consists in comparing the results of the regional elections with those of the European ones. The differences are slight and rnainly due to the popularity of the candidates. In Belgium there was no "eurosceptic" or "sovereignty" list. The third angle consists in comparing the 2004 results with the ones of the parliamentary elections of 2003. One then observes in Flanders a decline of the socialists, a significant fall in support for the liberals and a progression of the christian democrats. But the main development remains the progression of the Vlaams Blok which gains more than 6 pct compared to its good result of 2003. In the Walloon provinces, the socialists remain at their 2003 level but increase their positive gap with regard to the liberals who are in decline. The christian democrats advance by some 2 pct whereas Ecolo recovers a small part of its 2003 loss. The parties of the far right gain some 1.5 pct. In Brussels, the most noteworthy developrnent is the progress of the frenchspeaking socialists who take over the first place from the liberals. In general these elections are characterised by a reinforcement of the far right to the detriment of the centre parties and by a status quo of the aggregate consisting of socialists and greens, but to the benefit of the former.

In 2003, the completion of the eastern enlargement process dominated European Union activities. Without doubt, for the ten countries that joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, the signing of the Treaty of Accession on 16 May 2003 at the foot of the Akropolis was the high point. A few weeks later, Valéry Giscard D'Estaing presented the draft constitution at the European Council of Thessaloniki. Yet, in the spring of 2003, the European Union was mainly in the news as a divided European Union. In the weeks before the military intervention in lraq, on the European continent, a split became visible between the 'old' and 'new' Europe. However, when looking back, the lraq debacle seems to have given a new impulse to the development of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, witness the security strategies approved in December 2003. The compliance with the rules of the Stability and Crowth Pact, the increasing exchange rate of the euro, and the evaluation of the internal market programme were on the European economic agenda in 2003. In the autumn, the European Union did not succeed preventing the Cancun Ministerial Conference from breaking down.

Flemish community senators hold seats in both the Flemish Parliament and the Belgian Senate. A lot of expectations are related to their specific mandate. On the basis of our analysis, though, we come to the conclusion that the community senators do not meet these high expectations. While one would expect Flemish community senators to be very active in putting forward parliamentary questions concerning deliberation and cooperation between the different governments, this was clearly not the case in 1995-1999. 'Community senators' in other words, do not exist. They do not act like a community senator, and according to the interviews, nor do they feel like one. Prime Minister Verhofstadt, who wants to reform the Senate and revalue the role of the community senators by turning every senator into a community senator, is a warned man. In the future, the concept of community senator will only work if significant structural changes are made.

Gender quota do not always go hand in hand with a considerable rise in the number of women elected. Although the number of fe/male representatives elected depends on several factors, we argue that the stipulations of gender quota acts influence to a large extent their impact on the sex ratios in politics. This is not so much due to the share of fe/male candidates parties have to present than to the extent to which a gender quota act anticipates the particularities of the electoral system. A comparative analysis of three prominent cases, the Argentinean, Belgian and French gender quota acts, shows that the more a gender quota rule targets at the specificities of the electoral system in order to promote a gender balance in political representation, the more this rule 'guarantees' a result, even though gender quota acts concern but the input side of the electoral process.

Since 1989 candidates in Belgian elections have to declare their campaign expenses, but there is a widespread doubt as to the validity of the declared expenses as an indicator of the real cost of the campaign. After the 2000 local elections, data were collected concerning the campaign expenses of 2762 candidates spread over 134 municipalities in the Flemish region of Belgium. An analysis relating the declared expenses to a number of predictor variables reveals a sensible and systematic pattern, which can be interpreted as an indirect indication of their validity. There is a limit on spending, but the research shows that, on average, the candidates only spend 25% of what they are allowed to. Controlling for a number of relevant background variables, the campaign expenditures were found to have a substantial effect on the preference votes for the candidates.

Despite the fact that various authors have expressed concern about a general decline of civic engagement in Western societies, other indicators portray a transition from traditional and formal participation formats to more informal participation forms. This replacement thesis, however, entails the question whether these new forms can still be regarded as a form of political participation. The Alternative Food Circles in Belgium can be considered as a typical grass-roots example of 'political consumerism', which is portrayed as a contemporary alternative for institutionalised politics. In a member survey, 163 members of the Circles were questioned about their motives to participate. They clearly paid little attention to influencing the political system, but notions of solidarity and social change were clearl y present. This form of political consumerism therefore cannot be considered a full form of political participation (using an institutionalist definition of 'politics'), but it clearly is a form of 'life style politics' (Giddens).

This article explains the ebb and flow in Belgian trade union membership from 1946 to 1995 by replicating the econometric model by Bain and Elsheikhn in which changes in macro-economic variables are highly significant. Since the automatic indexation of wages and the extension of collective labour agreements invite free riding, the relevance of the change in inflation and real wage is quite striking. However, the free riding-effect is slowed down by the institutionalised presence of the trade unions on the work floor. The Ghent system explains the positive impact of the unemployment rate. The model is furthermore improved by the trade union density as a structural variable. The linear form reflects the enforcement effect, while the quadratic form mirrors the saturation effect on the trade union membership. Mainly due to the 'Allgemeinkoalitionsfähighkeit' of the Belgian government system, the impact of left parties on union growth and decline is not significant in a quantitative framework. With only four explanatory variables the model clarifies more than 75% of the fluctuations in Belgian trade union membership.