Publications

Belgian Society and Politics 2013: As Ever, in Between Elections
Belgian Society and Politics 2013: As Ever, in Between Elections

The Foundation Gerrit Kreveld, a Belgian study centre for social democracy, is ideologically aligned with, but clearly independent of the Flemish Socialist party (Sp.a). It aims to be a think-tank, concerned with the future, opportunities, boundaries and new challenges facing social democracy. This not only at home, but also in relation to European developments and to the world of globalism."

The Foundation carries the name of Gerrit Kreveld (1919-2005), a life-long activist and leader. As the delegated manager of a former worker’s holiday centre ‘Blutsyde’ at Bredene aan Zee, he collaborated in August 1994 in setting up a fund for a Foundation that would function as a Social-Democratic Centre for reflection, study and policy initiatives.

The Gerrit Kreveld Foundation offer English-language publication Belgian Society and Politics 2013: As Ever, in Between Elections, the seventh yearbook of the foundation, Belgian study centre for a social democracy. It will be useful in stimulating regular comparative cross-border debates on the fate and future of European social democrats.

If we are able to understand Belgium, then we should be able to understand any political system anywhere on the planet. Belgium is a multinational democracy, a bipolar state without federal parties, without federal elections, without federal media …and in the heart of the EU. That makes things rather complicated. Analyzing the local and provincial elections of 2012 and looking forward to the federal, regional and European elections of 2014, this Yearbook provides with the necessary tools to find the way through the somewhat surrealist Belgian politics.

THE SEVENTH YEARBOOK “Belgian Society and Politics 2013: As Ever, in Between Elections”