Pillarisation - Belgium

Belgium

Pillarisation in Belgium was very similar, although there was no Protestant pillar. Also there was no "general" pillar, but a politically well-organised liberal pillar. In both Flanders and Wallonia, societies are pillarised. In Flanders, Catholics were the dominant pillar, in Wallonia the Socialists were.

Even though the liberals are stronger in Belgium (particularly in Brussels) than in the Netherlands, they are still relatively weak, due to their rather small, bourgeois support: liberal trade unions are very small. De Tijd, a financial daily, is the newspaper aligned with the liberals. This is due to its readers only, not to editorial policies. However, a Flemish newspaper with historical liberal roots, Het Laatste Nieuws, also exists.

Denominational (many Catholic and a few Jewish) schools receive some public money, although not parity of funding as in the Netherlands, so that tuition is almost completely free. Belgian universities charge more or less the same, relatively low, tuition fees.

As a consequence of the language struggle in the latter half of the twentieth century, the pillars split over the language issue that became the most significant divisive factor in the nation. Now every language group has three pillars of its own. The pillar system was the primordial societal divide much longer in Belgium than it was in the Netherlands. Only near the end of the Cold War did it begin to lose importance, at least at the individual level, and to this day it continues to influence Belgian society. For example, even the 1999–2003 "Rainbow Coalition" of Guy Verhofstadt was often rendered with the terms of pillarisation. Political currents which rose in late 20th century (Vlaams Blok, now Vlaams Belang, Groen!, N-VA ), did not attempt to build pillars.

Pillarisation was visible even in everyday social organisations such as musical ensembles, sport clubs, recreational facilities, etc. Although weakened in the contemporary situation, many major social organisations (trade unions, cooperatives, etc.) still strictly follow the lines of pillars.