1. Do Party Politics Matter More than Identity Politics in Territorial Politics? Insights from Belgium MAIN FINDINGS Min Reuchamps, Dave Sinardet & Jérémy Dodeigne Paper prepared for presentation at the Workshop ‘Territorial Politics in Western and Eastern Europe’ The University of Edinburgh, the UK 14-15 June 2012

2. Do party politics matter more than identity politics? Federalisation often analysed through lense of identity politics sub-national groups as unitary, homogeneous actors with single interests identity as driving force of federal reform positions Methodological nationalism Increasing attention for the role of party politics party interests as driving force of federal reform positions reaction to electoral threat of sub-state nationalist parties opportunity for political power at new levels Identity politics and party politics in Belgium Flemish Christian-democrats and Walloon socialists were driving forces behind federalisation 6th Belgian state reform: are positions driven by identity politics or party politics?

3. Conclusion Identity matters = ‘political struggle’ between the Flemish and the Francophones: North = largely keener on further devolution South = not so keen Division between parties, even within same language groups Division within parties Further research