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| Albert II en Bart De Wever zien parallellen met de jaren dertig |
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
27 December 2012
24 November 2011
Belgian government formation
It's almost two years now that Belgium tries to form a government without success. Even the previous government, with prime minister Leterme, was not fully baked and disintegrated quickly.
Why is is so hard to make a government in Belgium?
For each political family (basically one left, one center, one right) you have two parties: one Flemish an one French.
This means you need 4 to 6 parties to make a government (this gets worse if you need a 2/3 majority).
The linguistic split of the parties happened in the seventies. Originally these sister parties were closely linked. Making a government still fealt as dealing with the political family. Over the years they started to diverge. Nowadays, for example, the Christian center parties (CD&V and CDH) are very different and are no longer logical allies.
You can not manage any business or a country well with so many different parties is nearly impossible.
So while the focus in this crisis is on topics - basically regional resopsibilities and tackling debt - the problem is a structural one. Next time we will have a different topic, but we will always have the same complexity.
Once you accept this as the problem, the possible solutions are clear. You need political parties that are scoped to the territory that is governed. Either you reunite the parties to match the country of you split the country to match the parties.
The regional split of the parties is stimulated by the election system. Politicians for parliament are elected in provincial circles. This means that they do not have any interest in being popular in another region and that they benefit from defending the interests of that region.
One of the proposals in current negotiations was to have some politicians elected in nation wide circles. This would surely bring political families closer again.
The problems in Europe are not different from the problems in Belgium. Currently Europe is governed by representatives from each country, each defending his interest. If European political families do not unite and Europe is not governed through the representatives in parliament, Europe will disintegrate.
Why is is so hard to make a government in Belgium?
For each political family (basically one left, one center, one right) you have two parties: one Flemish an one French.
This means you need 4 to 6 parties to make a government (this gets worse if you need a 2/3 majority).
The linguistic split of the parties happened in the seventies. Originally these sister parties were closely linked. Making a government still fealt as dealing with the political family. Over the years they started to diverge. Nowadays, for example, the Christian center parties (CD&V and CDH) are very different and are no longer logical allies.
You can not manage any business or a country well with so many different parties is nearly impossible.
So while the focus in this crisis is on topics - basically regional resopsibilities and tackling debt - the problem is a structural one. Next time we will have a different topic, but we will always have the same complexity.
Once you accept this as the problem, the possible solutions are clear. You need political parties that are scoped to the territory that is governed. Either you reunite the parties to match the country of you split the country to match the parties.
The regional split of the parties is stimulated by the election system. Politicians for parliament are elected in provincial circles. This means that they do not have any interest in being popular in another region and that they benefit from defending the interests of that region.
One of the proposals in current negotiations was to have some politicians elected in nation wide circles. This would surely bring political families closer again.
The problems in Europe are not different from the problems in Belgium. Currently Europe is governed by representatives from each country, each defending his interest. If European political families do not unite and Europe is not governed through the representatives in parliament, Europe will disintegrate.
14 September 2008
24 August 2008
Premature anti-fascist
In the US volunteers who fought for the republic in the Spanish civil war (1936-1939) were labeled as "premature anti-fascists" by the FBI. It was the trigger to assign them to non-combat units or inactive fronts in the second world war (1940) and deny them promotion.
21 August 2008
In praise of Mussolini
- Churchill (1927): If I had been an Italian I am sure that I should have been whole-heartedly with Signor Mussolini from the start to finish in his triumphant struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism.
- Ghandi: he is the saviour of Italy
- Mussolini came out second (afther Edison) in a poll for "greatest man of our time" in Algemeen Handelsblad in 1927.
20 August 2008
Rise of the bolsheviks
In 1917, Lenin, leader of the Russian bolsjeviks (majority, opposite of mensjeviks=minority) lived in exile in Switzerland. His secret political address book only contained ten active members in Russia.
After the Russian revolution in february the Germans let Lenin go to Russia and in april he arrives in Moskou.
With loads of German money allowing them to print the Pravda newspaper in huge numbers, the party swells to 200.000 members by august 1917.
In october the bolsjeviks take over and repression and civil war begin.
It is dazzling how radical actions by individuals can change history.
Before the second world war an initially small fraction like the nazi's will again take control over the masses, using terror.
After the Russian revolution in february the Germans let Lenin go to Russia and in april he arrives in Moskou.
With loads of German money allowing them to print the Pravda newspaper in huge numbers, the party swells to 200.000 members by august 1917.
In october the bolsjeviks take over and repression and civil war begin.
It is dazzling how radical actions by individuals can change history.
Before the second world war an initially small fraction like the nazi's will again take control over the masses, using terror.
31 July 2008
EC Veto
The League of Nations was a precursor to the United Nations. It was founded after the first worldwar to find a peaceful way to solve conflicts.
Jean Monnet was deputy to the secretary-general. On the failure of the League of Nations (we wouldn't have had a second world war if it had succeeded) he said:
The veto is at once the cause and the symbol of the inability to go beyond national self-interest.
- In Europa - Geert Mak
After the second world war Monnet became an important architect of the European Community.
With the current discussion on the European constitution, the veto is still haunting his brain child.
Jean Monnet was deputy to the secretary-general. On the failure of the League of Nations (we wouldn't have had a second world war if it had succeeded) he said:
The veto is at once the cause and the symbol of the inability to go beyond national self-interest.
- In Europa - Geert Mak
After the second world war Monnet became an important architect of the European Community.
With the current discussion on the European constitution, the veto is still haunting his brain child.
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