Belgium: Against the Government and Its Parties, (Not So Much) with the People

Judith Sijstermans; Steven M. Van Hauwaert

doi:10.4324/9781003197614-22

Belgium: Against the Government and Its Parties, (Not So Much) with the People

Judith Sijstermans, Steven M. Van Hauwaert

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic hit Belgium while the country was undergoing another protracted process of government formation, amid increasing polarization between the country’s Flemish and Walloon regions and their respective right- and left-wing political parties. In its response to the pandemic, Flanders’ populist radical right party, the Vlaams Belang (VB; Flemish Interest), conflated the protracted health crisis and this apparent crisis of government in the country. However, while it employed crisis language, the VB did not frequently call upon the “pure” people in its approach to COVID-19. Instead, the VB balanced a populist radical right framing of COVID-19 with a more typical anti-government response. The party’s moderation and professionalization processes and the dynamics of party competition are identified as two possible causes underpinning this approach to COVID-19.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Populists and the Pandemic
Subtitle of host publication	How Populists Around the World Responded to Covid- 19
Editors	Nils Ringe, Lucio Rennó
Publisher	Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
Pages	250-261
Number of pages	12
ISBN (Electronic)	9781000634877
ISBN (Print)	9781032051925
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003197614-22
Publication status	Published - 26 Aug 2022

Bibliographical note

We are grateful to Tim Bale, Sarah de Lange, Marcel Lewandowski, and Marta Lorimer as well as the editors for their insightful comments on previous versions of this chapter.

Made Open Access through the Knowledge Unlatched program

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Cite this

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Belgium: Against the Government and Its Parties, (Not So Much) with the People

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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