Belgian Exceptionalism

<p>This book takes stock of Belgium’s exceptional and – for some foreign observers –schizophrenic position in the political world and explains its idiosyncrasy to a non-Belgian audience. </p><p>Offering a broad and comprehensive analysis of Belgian politics the guiding questions throughout each of the chapters of this book are: Is Belgium a political enigma and why? Along which axes is Belgium exceptional compared to other countries? And what insights does a comparative study of Belgian politics have to offer? The book therefore provides a critical assessment of how Belgian politics stands out internationally both in good and bad ways – including consociationalism federalism democratic innovations Euroscepticism government formation gender equality among others – and which factors can explain Belgium’s exceptional position. </p><p>Based on cutting-edge research findings the book will be of wide interest to scholars and students of Belgian politics European Politics and Comparative politics.</p><p>The Open Access version of this book available at www.taylorfrancis.com has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.</p>