Federalism as ‘problem’ in the social imaginary of Flemish citizens

Although citizens are crucial for the vitality and legitimacy of federal systems, citizens have only recently emerged as a focal point of federal studies (Henderson et al., 2014; Verhaegen et al., 2021). Yet, while these citizen-based studies provide useful insights into citizens’ attitudes towards federalisation, an important issue remains unresolved: the meanings and conceptions that citizens attribute to federalism. When analysing citizens’ attitudes towards federalism, most studies tend to assume a unified understanding which glosses over the multiple and perhaps contradictory meanings... Mehr ...