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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1164

Part of Session 145: Conflicts in the city, cities in conflict? (Other abstracts in this session)

The realignment of political cleavages. Language and territoriality in post war Brussels.

Authors: Janssens, Rudi; Vaesen, Joost
Submitted by: Janssens, Rudi (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)

“Nationalism, once thought by many intellectuals of both Left and Right to be a declining or dying force, has seemingly returned with renewed vigor in recent decades” (Delanty & Kumar, 2006, 1). Nations and nationalism are defined by cultural markers of which religion, ethnicity and language are the most important tools (McCrone, 2006, 240). The latter marker is fundamental in the post war political polarization in Belgium in general and Brussels in specific (Witte e.a., 2005). This crucial cleavage structures the political system and thus the service provision in key domains (such as education) in the Belgian capital, while influencing the identification pattern of its citizens (Janssens, 2010). At the same time, recent societal and governmental transitions have grifted on the existing cleavages. On the one hand globalization with its inherent influx of immigrants and their multilingualism sorted an impact on both national/regional and local issues. This is certainly an issue in countries or regions featuring more than one official language (Kavadias & Stouthuysen, 2011) and thus, due to the relationship between language, ethnicity and social boundaries (Olzak, 1992). It provokes tensions and conflicts implying an often precarious balance between the language groups involved. Thereby Brussels, characterized by the presence of two traditional language communities and an important influx of immigrants, provides an interesting case. On the other hand scholars described a profound governmental transition featuring the “erosion” or “reshaping” of nation states, implying the rise of regions and cities and the relevance of supranational institutions (Müller & Wright, 1994). In Belgium, the process of federalization has reshaped the political system fundamentally (Deschouwer, 2009). It is clear that these transitions have an impact on the traditional politico-linguistic cleavage in Belgium in general and Brussels in specific.

This presentation focuses on the role of the educational system. The case of Brussels is therefore highly relevant, since its educational context is shaped by the presence of the two traditional language communities (Dutch – French), who control each separately a unilingual component of this sphere. The changing role of both languages over time resulted in a shift from a bilingual to two monolingual educational system, with recently the demand to shift to new forms of bilingual education. Brussels is also characterized by a major influx of immigrants and a strong demographic rejuvenation, putting extra strains on the existing model. Therefore the current sociologically diverse linguistic situation clashes with the official bilingual (or dual unilingual) environment. Recent political and administrative transitions have affected the current model as well, leading to an embryonic regional (bilingual) political identity (Vaesen, 2008) that gives an impetus to the transformation of the current dual educational system.