Federalization in the slipstream: How the German-speaking Community of Belgium became one of the smallest federal entities in the world

In last 50 years, Belgium has evolved from a central to a federal state. While this process was driven by the Flemish and Francophone communities (and influenced by the Brussels-Capital Region), a fourth much smaller entity known today as ‘German-speaking Community’ was also integrated into the federal arrangement. This article reviews the latter’s political history to go beyond the common explanation that its statute was a consequence of the Belgian federalization dynamic. By using historical scholarship and testimonial interviews, it shows that neither the demand nor conferral of autonomy we... Mehr ...