Belgium Wrestles with its Identity(ies)
A Test Lab for Europe?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.12.2015.37.03Keywords:
Belgium, identity, European integrationAbstract
In this paper the author reconsiders the approach taken by Belgian politicians, working to promote European integration, vis-à-vis the question of European identity, roots and values, as well as their attitude towards European political objectives. We compare these views with those of French authors or politicians. Finally, we examine the current issues surrounding Belgian identity, caught betweenthe French-speaking community and the increasingly strong Flemish identity. By way of a conclusion, I shall try to show how Belgium, with its identity-related issues, is sometimes presented as a ‘test lab for Europe’, as it was in the past, in completely different contexts, in 1921 at the time of the BLEU (Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union) and in 1944 with the founding of the Benelux union.
Downloads
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
Annales parlementaires. Chambre, October 1962.
Google Scholar
Bréhier T., Le Monde littéraire, 30 April 1999. Critique of Les racines de l’identité européenne by G.‑F. Dumont, Paris 1999.
Google Scholar
Coulie B. in B. Coulie, V. Dujardin, Fondements de l’intégration européenne. Histoire, géographie, culture, structures, Louvain‑la‑Neuve 2012.
Google Scholar
Delperée F., ‘La guerre des Belges aura‑t‑elle lieu?’, La Revue Générale, No. 1 (2007).
Google Scholar
Dumont G.‑F., Les racines de l’identité européenne, Paris 1999.
Google Scholar
Javeau C., Masse et impuissance. Le désarroi des universités, Brussels 1998 (Quartier Libre).
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.