Politics of the Low Countries

📢 Call for Papers – Special Issue on Democratic Innovations in the Low Countries

Guest editors: Emilien Paulis (University of Luxembourg), David Talukder (Université de Namur) & @takesipma.bsky.social (Tilburg University)

🗓️ Abstract submissions by October 31

plc-journal.eu/announcement...

Happy to announce the publication of my first article in @plc-journal.bsky.social!

👀 Interested in reading more about sibling parties and electoral behaviour in Belgium? Check out the post below 👇

Thank you to my supervisors @marchooghe.bsky.social and @dieterstiers.bsky.social for their guidance

🔦PLC is pleased to spotlight this literature review by Sofie Hennau, Johan Ackaert from our archives "Compulsory Voting and Voter Turnout in the Low Countries: A Qualitative Data Analysis of the Case Vlaams Belang"
🔗Available in #OpenAccess in PLC (Vol. 4 No. 3) at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...

📣Today PLC is also proud to reintroduce this article by Jasper Praet "The Ideological Roots of Populist Radical-Right Climate Scepticism: A Qualitative Data Analysis of the Case Vlaams Belang"
🔓Available in #OpenAccess in PLC (Vol. 4 No. 3) at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...

📂Delving into our archives PLC is pleased to highlight this article by Ruud Wouters, Michiel de Vydt, Luna Staes @uantwerpen.be "Truly Exceptional? Participants in the Belgian 2019 Youth for Climate Protest Wave"
🔗Available in #OpenAccess in PLC (Vol. 4 No. 3) at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...

"Responsive or Responsible?
On the policy implementation of popular initiative under challenges of international law"
An article by Laurent Bernhard

Available in #OpenAccess in PLC (Vol 5. No. 1) at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...

"Direct Democracy Integrity in Modern Authoritarian Systems:
The Constitutional Referendum in Turkey 2017 and Russian Plebiscite in 2020"
By Norbert Kersting, Margarita Zavadskaya and Tiphaine Magne
@uni-muenster.de @helsinki.fi

Available in #OpenAccess at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...

"The Ideological Drivers Behind the Support for the Use of Direct Democracy among Voters and Parties of Benelux Countries"
An article by Sacha Rangoni and Emilien Paulis @sciencepoulb.bsky.social

Available in #OpenAccess in PLC (Vol 5. No. 1) at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...

"The Democratic Potential of Community-Based Initiatives"
An article by Kors Visscher, Menno Hurenkamp and Evelien Tonkens

Available in #OpenAccess in PLC (Vol 5. No. 1) at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...

"Amending and Extending Referendum Ballots:
Innovations in Referendum Literature and Practice"
A literature review by Charlotte C.L. Wagenaar

Available in #OpenAccess in PLC (Vol 5. No. 1) at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...

💡Interested in Referendums, Political Parties and Policies in Europe? Politics of the Low Countries is pleased to reintroduce its special issue on the topic!

Available in #OpenAccess

🧵

#OpenPublishing #PoliticalScience

#DividedSocieties #CSESBegium #PartyFamily #Belgium #SiblingParties #VoteChoice #Cleavages

#DiamondOpenAccess #OpenPublishing #RadboudUniversityPress

💡The paper offers new perspectives on how party families might contribute to political stability in divided systems

🔎 Check out the figure by party family ⤵️

Sneak peek in the publication
💡 Unlike most countries, Belgium lacks national parties; regional “sibling parties” fill the gap
💡 Using the 2019 CSES Belgian dataset, the article shows that these sibling parties attract *similar* voters across regions, especially the Greens and less the liberals

📢 New #openaccess publication 📢

📝 Party Families as a Cross-Cutting Cleavage on the Individual Level: The case of Belgium
👤 By Steven De Keyser (@kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social, Voting and Democracy Research Group)
🔗 plc-journal.eu/article/view...

Did you know ?
👉 The sister article on the The Oxford Handbook of Belgian Politics, by Min Reuchamps, Marleen Brans, Petra Meier and Emilie van Haute (
@emilievh.bsky.social) has been published earlier in PLC : plc-journal.eu/article/view...

💡 In this new "State of the profession" article, the authors present this masterpiece for all political scientists, and beyond, interested in Dutch politics.

#Dutchpolitics #Pillarisation #Populism #Consociationaldemocracy #LowCountries
#RadboudUniversityPress #openpublishing

📣 New publication 📣

We're proud that @sldelange.bsky.social, @tomlouwerse.nl Paul 't Hart & Carolien Van Ham, editors of the Oxford Handbook of Dutch Politics chose PLC to discuss & advertise their work 😊

📄 Curious ? Have a read, it's short, impactful & #openaccess: plc-journal.eu/article/view...

Very happy to announce that @plc-journal.bsky.social has published an abbreviated version of our introduction to the OUP Handbook of Dutch Politics. It is a concise analysis of how Dutch politics has (not) changed since the heydays of consociationalism plc-journal.eu/article/view...

#Ministerialadvisers #Politicalelites #Careers
#DiamondOpenAccess #OpenPublishing

💡 Reveals recruitment patterns using a unique dataset of 754 advisers and 5828 career positions
💡 Shows that non-cartel parties recruit more outsiders, while cartel parties prefer insiders. Rightwing parties lean toward advisers from the private sector; leftwing parties favor academia/public sector

Sneak peek into the publication
💡 Explores how Flemish political parties recruit ministerial advisers, balancing political loyalty and expertise
💡 Introduces a dynamic model combining resources (cartel vs. non-cartel parties) and ideology (left vs. right leaning parties)

📢 New #openaccess publication 📢

📝 Insiders, Outsiders, and Ideology: Explaining Variation in Ministerial Adviser Recruitment Patterns in Flanders (1999–2020)
👥 By Tom Bellens & Marleen Brans (KU Leuven Public Governance Institute @io-pgi-kuleuven.bsky.social)
🔗 plc-journal.eu/article/view...

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#MultilateralPolicymaking #Coordination #NetworkGovernance #Federalisation #Decentralisation #Fragmentation #Coormulti

#DiamondOpenAccess #OpenPublishing #RadboudUniversityPress

💡 Highlights Coormulti, a central but little-known structure in Belgium’s multilateral policymaking

💡 Combines field observations and interviews to offer novel insights into Belgium’s complex federal architecture in international affairs

Sneak peek in the publication
💡 Examines Belgium’s efforts to maintain foreign policy coherence amid domestic fragmentation and global uncertainty

💡 Introduces network governance as a key coordination tool between federated entities and technical ministries

📢 New Publication Alert 📢

We’re proud to share a new article published in #openaccess🎉

📝 Belgium’s multilateral policymaking in the age of global uncertainty: the strive for coherence and consistency through network governance
👤 By Edouard Xia (UCLouvain)
🔗 plc-journal.eu/article/view...

🧵

📂PLC is revisiting key articles from its archives. Today we spotlight "Homo, Hunter-gatherer, Habermas"
🔗Available in #OpenAccess in PLC (Vol. 5 No. 2) at:
PhD Summary by Ramon van der Does: plc-journal.eu/article/view...
PhD Review by Florian van Leeuwen: plc-journal.eu/article/view...

📂PLC is revisiting key articles from its archives. Today we spotlight this PhD summary by Julien Vrydagh @unistuttgart.bsky.social "Unravelling a Mystery"
🔓Available in #OpenAccess in Politics of the Low Countries (Vol. 5 No. 2) at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...
#OpenPublishing #PoliticalScience

📝PLC is proud to reintroduce this PhD summary and its review "Political Legitimacy and Under-representation"
🔓Available in #OpenAccess in PLC (Vol. 5 No. 2)
Summary by David Talukder @sciencepoulb.bsky.social at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...
Review by Roberto Foa at: plc-journal.eu/article/view...