Europeanization and the Unravelling of Belgium: a Comparative Analysis of Party Strategies

Research on Europeanization has greatly deepened our understanding of the domestic impact of European integration but has largely neglected the question of the extent to which it has influenced domestic politics in relation to state reform. The article addresses this question by investigating the case of Belgium, which has experienced the deepest process of state reform and at the same time has been the most exposed to Europeanization. It explores the connections between the two through a qualitative comparative analysis of the degree to which political parties have exploited the European dimension in their rhetorical strategies on state reform, with focus on three key time points. The results paint a contrasting picture. On the one hand, the degree of Europeanization has been limited at each point in time and largely stable over time. On the other hand, the VU/N-VA stands out as a major exception for its consistent – and growing – exploitation of the European dimension. The analysis shows that constitutional preferences, importance of the constitutional question, and attitudes to integration are the key factors explaining the patterns observed. These findings call for deeper theorization of the domestic impact of integration and point to avenues for further comparative analysis.