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Introduction
Some scholars have described parties as inescapable, vital or essential to the functioning of democratic systems. Others have speculated on their disappearance. Despite the debate on party decline or adaptation (Katz and Mair, 1995; Daalder, 2001), there is a general agreement that political parties play a central role in representative democracies. They fulfil many functions (Widfelt, 1999) and are therefore central to the effectiveness of civil society and contemporary democracy.
Belgium is no exception in this respect. Parties are recognised as central actors in the political system, which has been described as pillarised and partitocratic (Deschouwer, 2009). First, parties are numerous in Belgium. Through the years, the fragmentation of the party system and the effective number of parties has increased drastically due to the multiplication of cleavage politics (Delwit, 2012). In the second half of the nineteenth century, the denominational cleavage gave birth to the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, whereas the socio-economic cleavage gave rise to the Socialists. After WWII, the centre-periphery cleavage led to the emergence of the ethno-regionalist parties, but also the split of the three traditional party families along the linguistic divide (Deschouwer, 2009). In the 1980s, the development of new politics favoured the rise of the Greens and the Extreme Right. Today, each party family (Christian Democrats, Socialists, Liberals, Greens and Extreme Right) has its sister party on the other side of the linguistic border, but the strength and the electoral fate of either sibling vary across the linguistic divide, and they compete in separate electoral arenas (with the exception of Brussels and part of its suburbs).
Second, parties are crucial social and political actors linked to civil society via their membership and various satellite organisations (pillarisation), and they have developed strong links with public administration (partitocracy - Deschouwer, 2009). Belgian society has long been described as pillarised (Lijphart, 1981). Political cleavages have led to the creation of sociological worlds that encapsulate citizens and organise groups politically and socially through a dedicated political party, a trade union, a social care institution and a multitude of other organisations. Each pillar provides for its members in all aspects of their lives, from the cradle to the grave (Seiler, 1992). At the end of nineteenth century, the Socialists were the first to...