1949-1969 since 1990






Belgium 1969-1990



In 1970 the first of 4 steps was undertaken to change Belgium's constitution from a centralist into a federal one, a process being concluded in 1995. Belgium now consists of 3 COMMUNITIES (the Flemish, the French and the German-speaking community) and 3 regions (Flanders, Wallonia, the Brussels region).
Belgian political parties are organized on community lines; in Belgium's parliament a multitude of small to medium-size political parties are represented. The formation of coalition governments is difficult, as there are many parties involved. As a consequence, political and administrative posts often are filled on the based of party affiliation (whose turn is it ?) rather than on qualification, a structure at the basis of problems and scandals.
Over the years the Belgian Franc had lost in value. Belgium from the late 1960es onward followed the policy of the Deutsche Bundesbank, with the consequence that the Belgian Franc now became a hard currency. On the other hand, the government had to restrain itself from interfering in National Bank policy.
Belgians A. CLAUDE and CHR. DE DUWE were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1974.












EXTERNAL
FILES 		Belgium : History, from infoplease, encyclopedic, scroll down
Famous Belgians, from List of Belgian Kings, Prime Ministers, from Ben Cahoon
List of Belgian Prime Ministers, portfolio ministers, party leaders since 1945, information on party history, from ZPC
Liste des gouvernements 1944-1999, with downloadable files 'composition', 'declaration', from CRISP (in French, on Belgium)
The Belgian constitution explained, from Cadmos
Belgium, a federal state, from Belgian Government
Radicaal-links in Belgie en de val van de Muur. Hoe overleefden de KP, de SAP en de PVDA de val van het 'reeel bestaande socialisme'? (The Radical Left in Belgium and the Fall of the Wall. How did the KP, SAP and PVDA survive the fall of 'real, existing socialism' ? online dissertation by Jan Buelinckx,. Gent 2002, in Dutch
DOCUMENTS Belgian banknotes, from Ron Wise's World Paper Money
REFERENCE Dorothy Loder, The Land and People of Belgium, Philadelphia : Lippincott (1957) revised edition 1973 [G]
Article Belgium, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1970 pp.135-136, 1971 p.129, 1972 pp.118-119, 1973 pp.115-116, 1974 pp.124-125, 1975 pp.108-109, 1976 pp.167-168, 1977 pp.169-170, 1978 pp.223-224, 1979 pp.221-223, 1980 pp.218-219, 1981 pp.216-218, 1982 pp.216-218, 1983 pp.213-215, 1984 pp.210-211, 1985 pp.525, 636, 1986 pp.519, 632, 1987 pp.490, 601, 1988 pp.446-447, 553, 1989 pp.447-448, 553, 1990 pp.463-464, 569 [G]
Article : Belgium, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1970-1971 pp.749-758, 1975-1976 pp.762-771, 1976-1977 pp.768-777, 1978-1979 pp.196-205, 1979-1980 pp.195-204, 1980-1981 pp.195-204, 1981-1982 pp.197-206, 1983-1984 pp.196-205, 1984-1985 pp.195-204, 1985-1986 pp.194-203, 1986-1987 pp.195-204, 1987-1988 pp.193-202, 1988-1989 pp.193-202, 1989-1990 pp.194-203, 1990-1991 pp.194-203 [G]
Article : Belgium, in : The World in Figures 1st ed. 1976 pp.211-212, 2nd ed. 1978 pp.211-212, 4th ed. 1984 pp.211-212 [G]
Article : Belgium, in : Americana Annual 1970 p.127, 1971 pp.133-134, 1972 p.133, 1973 p.128, 1974 p.120, 1976 p.114, 1988 p.135, 1989 p.134, 1990 p.132 [G]
Article : Belgium, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia Year Book 1983 p.92 [G]
Article : Belgium, in : Yearbook on International Comminist Affairs 1980 pp.117-121 (Willy Estersohn) [G]




This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on January 31st 2002, last revised on March 12th 2007

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