Coalition Formation and Congruence in a Multi-layered Setting: Belgium 1995–2008

Abstract

One of the concepts with which the relation between governments at different levels can be analysed is the congruence of the coalitions. This article analyses the dynamics of government formation in Belgium from that perspective. The Belgian case is interesting because the recent decoupling of the electoral cycles from 2003 on allows us to see how the parties are trying to adapt to the possibilities and consequences of incongruence. The Belgian case is also rather exceptional. The absence of state-wide parties makes it indeed impossible for parties to define strategies at one level without assessing consequences at the other level. Congruence then seems to be the preferred strategy, although incongruence can offer interesting opportunities. Smaller parties, however, appear to be unable to play the double role imposed by incongruent coalitions.

Keywords:

• Government formation
• coalition congruence
• Belgium
• party systems
• electoral cycle

Acknowledgement

This research was performed as part of the Interuniversity Attraction Poles financed by the Belgian government.

Notes

Most Belgian political parties have recently adopted new names. This paper will always use these new names, even when referring to earlier periods when the parties used older names. Only for the Volksunie—a party that split into two successor parties NVA and Spirit—will I use VU as long as the old party existed. The Belgian parties that are present in this article are:

	CD&V: Flemish Christian democrats (formerly CVP)
	CDh: Francophone Christian democrats (formerly PSC)
	PS: Francophone socialists
	SP.a: Flemish socialists (formerly SP)
	Open VLD: Flemish liberals (formerly PVV)
	MR: Francophone liberals
	Ecolo: Francophone greens
	Groen: Flemish greens (formerly Agalev)
	Vlaams Belang: Flemish Right-wing extremist party (formerly Vlaams Blok)
	Volksunie: Flemish regionalist party (was dissolved in 2001)
	NVA: Conservative Flemish regionalists (official successor party of Volksunie)
	Vlaams Progressieven VL.Pro: Left-liberal Flemish regionalists (part of former Volksunie, formerly named Spirit)