Rational public decision-making is nearly impossible for two reasons : the organisational complexity of public services and the existence of two circuits, a political one, and an administrativeone.Moreover, public decisions are made by different pressure groups, and from different decision centres. In Belgium the impact of political parties is steadily increasing, up to the point where they function as master-organisations that have set up their own institutions to carry out public tasks. In thesocio-economie field the government acts more often as (...) an arbitrator and money-supplier than as a decision-maker.In the welfare state the government's position in the whole field of decision-making amounts to delegating decisions to private organisations and pressure groups, which in due course leads to corporatism andirrationality. Finally, the organisation structure of the civil service itself stimulates irrationality because it was set up as a pyramid hierarchy in a time when the government did not have many tasks. (shrink)

This article deals with the differences that exist between the profile of Flemish male and female political candidates placed on election-lists. The survey, held amongst all female and male political candidates, shows that male candidates find themselves in a more favourable position due to the accumulation of small gender differences in education, professional and domestic life.Male candidates more often have university degrees and leading functions resulting in more important relations. They are better represented both in the party structure and in (...) corporate life.Child care and domestic tasks seem to be their partner's responsability. Female political underrepresentation is a result of a generally weaker position of women in society. Notwithstanding the enormous progress made over the last five decades, the problem of female underrepresentation in politics remains a structural one. Hence, the question is wether a solution should ask for structural measures by the government. (shrink)

The major changes in the Belgian partysystem occurred within the context of the rise of the welfare state. Most welfare provisions were subcontracted to the different «zuil» organisations, with their political parties functioning as masterorganisation.The contrasts between «catholic» Flanders and «red» Wallonia dominated the political agenda, and led up to the fractionalisation of the party-system. The political positions of the parties remained unchanged : ascendancy of the catholics, challenged by the socialists, with the liberals holding the balance, and communists and (...) «federalist» parties beingback in opposition after a short period of governmental participation.Although party identification has shifted from ideological towards clientelist motives, the party preference of the electorate did not alter. The functions of parties did change : the power of mandatories decreased and parties increasingly control and even formulate public policy.Television has personalized political propaganda, which is, in between elections, professionally made by highly subsidized cultural masterorganisations. The costs of electoral propaganda, nowadays runned by commercial - advertising bureaus, have increased substantially. All this led to the decline of the propaganda by volunteers. (shrink)