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Belgium: Long United, Long Divided (Paperback)

Belgium: Long United, Long Divided By Samuel Humes Cover Image
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Description


This concise history describes the traditions and transitions that over two thousand years have developed in Belgium in a sense of shared identity, common government, and a centralized nation-state - and then over a few recent decades paved the way for Flemish-Walloon schism that now threatens to break up Belgium. It responds to the question: Why does a government, unified for more than 600 years, no longer seem capable of holding together a linguistically divided country

In tracing the evolution of Belgian governance, Humes describes why and how the dominance of French-speaking propertied elite eroded after having monopolized the land's governance for centuries. The extension of suffrage, combined with the rise of literacy and schooling enabled labor and Flemish movements to gather sufficient momentum to fracture the Belgian polity, splitting its parties and frustrating its politics. The presence of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has, in a tangential way, enable the Belgian separatists to discount the merit of a national government that is no longer needed to defend the country militarily and economically.

About the Author


Samuel Humes lived in Belgium from 1984 till 2008, where he was most recently director of Boston University's Brussels campus. He is a graduate of Williams College (BA), the University of Pennsylvania (MGA), and Leiden University (Drs and PhD). His latest book is Managing the Multinational: Confronting the Global-Local Dilemma; earlier publications include The Structure of Local Government Throughout the World which has been described as a seminal work in its field. He resides in Williamstown, MA.
Product Details
ISBN: 9781849041461
ISBN-10: 1849041466
Publisher: Hurst & Co.
Publication Date: December 15th, 2014
Pages: 256
Language: English