50 years of Belgian federalism: Analyzing political discourse across six State reforms

The paradox of federalism lies at the heart of linguistically divided democracies: it is both a solution to reach compromises and yet it can foster additional tensions. With a long-started opposition between Flemings and Francophones that led to six State reforms in fifty years, Belgium provides a case in point to study how discourse and political change interact. Building on an interdisciplinary political science and linguistics approach, this paper draws on discursive institutionalism and investigates discourses on Belgian federalism, relying on 81 television debates from the 1970's until 20... Mehr ...