A survey amongst 602 Flemish secondary school pupils, aged 17-18, shows that a distinction can be made between two different, albeit closely related, dimensions of royalism : the emotional attachment to the king as a person and to the royal family on the one hand, and the political support for the monarchy on the other. Respondents are predominantly indifferent or negative about the monarchy, particularly on the emotional dimension. A multivariate analysis shows that male and non-churchgoing pupils are more negative (...) on both dimensions. Pupils from migrant families are more positive on the emotional dimension. The scores on both dimensions are higher amongst pupils who identify with Belgium rather than with Flanders, who have strong patriotic feelings and who tend towards an authoritarian attitude. The scores are lower amongst pupils with apreference for a regionalist party. The hypothesis that intense royalist feelings coincide with a general attitude of trust in the political authorities was only confirmed with regard to the emotional dimension, while the political support for the monarchy appears to be detached from the trust in the political authorities. (shrink)

Flemish community senators hold seats in both the Flemish Parliament and the Belgian Senate. A lot of expectations are related to their specific mandate. On the basis of our analysis, though, we come to the conclusion that the community senators do not meet these high expectations. While one would expect Flemish community senators to be very active in putting forward parliamentary questions concerning deliberation and cooperation between the different governments, this was clearly not the case in 1995-1999. 'Community senators' in (...) other words, do not exist. They do not act like a community senator, and according to the interviews, nor do they feel like one. Prime Minister Verhofstadt, who wants to reform the Senate and revalue the role of the community senators by turning every senator into a community senator, is a warned man. In the future, the concept of community senator will only work if significant structural changes are made. (shrink)