The Political and Administrative System in Belgium

Teacher(s)

de Visscher Christian; De Winter Lieven; Rihoux Benoît;

Language

French

Main themes

During the course, students will: - Study the basic structures of Belgian political society (divisions, pillars, consociationalism, etc.) and analyse the political balance of power, including at election time; - Take a closer look at the electoral and Party systems, the parties as such, Parliament, the government and the political elites; - Study the structures and operation of the public sector.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	By the end of this course, students should have acquired a good knowledge of the socio-political and administrative workings of the Belgian political system and acquired a capacity to analyse the events which govern the country's political landscape. This will be the particular focus of the Current Affairs Seminar.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Content

Part 1: AP Frognier (10.) 1. Belgium's national foundations 2. Belgium's socio-political foundations 3. Divisions and Parties 4. The balance of power between the political actors Part 2: L. De Winter(10.) 1. Electoral system and Party system during the post-war period 2. The Belgian political Parties: ideology, organisation and operation 3. Structure and operation of Parliament 4. Formation, structures and decision-making mechanisms of the federal governments 5. Partocracy, clientelism, corruption and political revivals Part 3: Visscher C. of (10.) 1. Analysis of the public sector in Belgium: forms of administrations and public services: methods of organisation, manpower, relations with the political power 2. Resource management within the public administration (budget; public service) 3. The politico-administrative system in action: study of the public policy cycle, from introduction to implementation (using concrete examples)

Other information

Course entry requirements: Students must have taken the Public Law course. Foreign students taking this course during an exchange programme will need to plan for an alternative way of covering this material. Evaluation: written examination Course materials: Students will receive a reading portfolio

Faculty or entity

ESPO