The reality of consensual democracy in the Kingdom of Belgium, lessons learned

Abstract

The reality of adopting the concept of consensual democracy, around which a wide discussion is taking place, indicates that there is a social, cultural or religious and sectarian problems, this type of democracy is adopted to address this problem politically through power-sharing between different social parties,   social and cultural backgrounds structures have helped, especially. The linguistic difference in Belgium led to the adoption of consociational democracy to maintain the unity of the state. The social difference was reflected in the constitutional and political reality, which led to the establishment and consolidation of Belgian consociationalism. On the constitutional side, the federal system was adopted as a feature of consensual governance. The constitution had a direct impact on the consolidation of consensual rule in addition to federalism, especially with regard to the government formation that is divided between Dutch and French community speakers  which at distribute the power between the two main components. As for the political aspect, the political parties had an important role in going towards consociationalism in governance after the parties shifted from the local level to the regional level. Thus, the social, constitutional and political reality is ripe for adopting the consensual approach that had a role in adopting policies which contributed to a kind of relative stability.