A Nation Divided

A NATION DIVIDED an introduction to Belgium Contrary to popular belief, Belgium is not all about chocolate and waffles,(hough bt are deicous) In fact, this tiny little country is one of Europe's oddities. Forged by centuries of conquest by competing empires, from CAESAR and CHARLEMAGNE to NAPOLEON and HITLER, Belgium has become a microcosm of the European experience. But all is not well in the land of lace and French Fries. Belgium is increasingly becoming a nation divided. This is mostly due to the entrenched linguistic divide between the regions of FLANDERS and WALLONIA, which are monolingual in Dutch and French respectively. The capital Brussels is considered a separate region, and is bilingual. Flanders Brussels Wallonia This linguistic and cultural division ultimately means that EVERYTHING in Belgium is broken down regionally . POPULATION: ECONOMY: GDP in 2009 = €339 billion“ ($471 billion) Mixed/Other Walloon Flanders 57.1% Walloni Brussels 19.4 % Flemish 235% Belgian population in 2009 = over 10.7 million people. Contribution to GDP by Region ?!? POLITICS: 60% 40% Dutch French? There are NO NATIONAL PARTIES in Belgium. <1% Instead, Flemish votersS vote for Flemish parties and Walloon voters vote for Walloon parties. Only in Brussels are voters allowed to vote for any of the 12 major political parties. This leads to problems like the current political crisis, German where a Flemish nationalist party and a Walloon socialist party hold the majority of the seats in Parliament. These groups are expected to reach a compromise, but with such different political values, it's not surprising that Belgium still does NOT have a functioning federal government after nearly 300 days of negotiations. Bilingualism is also a problem in Belgium. FLANDERS: WALLONIA: 40% 59% 53% 19% 17% Dutch + Dutch English French+ French English English N-VA PS MR COSV SPA VLD VB CDH ECOLO GROEN! LDD PP PARTIES BY REGION IN THE CHAMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES, 2010 English 5 SEATS Sources: 1 Workd Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/country/belgium 2 IA World Factbook, Belgium. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/be.html 3. Minority Rights Group. http://www.minorityrights.org/1511/belgium/flemings.html 4.National Bank of Belgium. http://www.nbb.be/pub/stats/stats.htm?thema=0&entity=Stats&pub=285-enätab-Publications 5. European Election Database http://www.nsd.uib.no/european_election_database/country/belgium/partieshtml All images created by the artist or available under public domain. Created by. Sarah McNeal, 3/26/2011 NUMBER OF SEATS A NATION DIVIDED an introduction to Belgium Contrary to popular belief, Belgium is not all about chocolate and waffles,(hough bt are deicous) In fact, this tiny little country is one of Europe's oddities. Forged by centuries of conquest by competing empires, from CAESAR and CHARLEMAGNE to NAPOLEON and HITLER, Belgium has become a microcosm of the European experience. But all is not well in the land of lace and French Fries. Belgium is increasingly becoming a nation divided. This is mostly due to the entrenched linguistic divide between the regions of FLANDERS and WALLONIA, which are monolingual in Dutch and French respectively. The capital Brussels is considered a separate region, and is bilingual. Flanders Brussels Wallonia This linguistic and cultural division ultimately means that EVERYTHING in Belgium is broken down regionally . POPULATION: ECONOMY: GDP in 2009 = €339 billion“ ($471 billion) Mixed/Other Walloon Flanders 57.1% Walloni Brussels 19.4 % Flemish 235% Belgian population in 2009 = over 10.7 million people. Contribution to GDP by Region ?!? POLITICS: 60% 40% Dutch French? There are NO NATIONAL PARTIES in Belgium. <1% Instead, Flemish votersS vote for Flemish parties and Walloon voters vote for Walloon parties. Only in Brussels are voters allowed to vote for any of the 12 major political parties. This leads to problems like the current political crisis, German where a Flemish nationalist party and a Walloon socialist party hold the majority of the seats in Parliament. These groups are expected to reach a compromise, but with such different political values, it's not surprising that Belgium still does NOT have a functioning federal government after nearly 300 days of negotiations. Bilingualism is also a problem in Belgium. FLANDERS: WALLONIA: 40% 59% 53% 19% 17% Dutch + Dutch English French+ French English English N-VA PS MR COSV SPA VLD VB CDH ECOLO GROEN! LDD PP PARTIES BY REGION IN THE CHAMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES, 2010 English 5 SEATS Sources: 1 Workd Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/country/belgium 2 IA World Factbook, Belgium. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/be.html 3. Minority Rights Group. http://www.minorityrights.org/1511/belgium/flemings.html 4.National Bank of Belgium. http://www.nbb.be/pub/stats/stats.htm?thema=0&entity=Stats&pub=285-enätab-Publications 5. European Election Database http://www.nsd.uib.no/european_election_database/country/belgium/partieshtml All images created by the artist or available under public domain. Created by. Sarah McNeal, 3/26/2011 NUMBER OF SEATS A NATION DIVIDED an introduction to Belgium Contrary to popular belief, Belgium is not all about chocolate and waffles,(hough bt are deicous) In fact, this tiny little country is one of Europe's oddities. Forged by centuries of conquest by competing empires, from CAESAR and CHARLEMAGNE to NAPOLEON and HITLER, Belgium has become a microcosm of the European experience. But all is not well in the land of lace and French Fries. Belgium is increasingly becoming a nation divided. This is mostly due to the entrenched linguistic divide between the regions of FLANDERS and WALLONIA, which are monolingual in Dutch and French respectively. The capital Brussels is considered a separate region, and is bilingual. Flanders Brussels Wallonia This linguistic and cultural division ultimately means that EVERYTHING in Belgium is broken down regionally . POPULATION: ECONOMY: GDP in 2009 = €339 billion“ ($471 billion) Mixed/Other Walloon Flanders 57.1% Walloni Brussels 19.4 % Flemish 235% Belgian population in 2009 = over 10.7 million people. Contribution to GDP by Region ?!? POLITICS: 60% 40% Dutch French? There are NO NATIONAL PARTIES in Belgium. <1% Instead, Flemish votersS vote for Flemish parties and Walloon voters vote for Walloon parties. Only in Brussels are voters allowed to vote for any of the 12 major political parties. This leads to problems like the current political crisis, German where a Flemish nationalist party and a Walloon socialist party hold the majority of the seats in Parliament. These groups are expected to reach a compromise, but with such different political values, it's not surprising that Belgium still does NOT have a functioning federal government after nearly 300 days of negotiations. Bilingualism is also a problem in Belgium. FLANDERS: WALLONIA: 40% 59% 53% 19% 17% Dutch + Dutch English French+ French English English N-VA PS MR COSV SPA VLD VB CDH ECOLO GROEN! LDD PP PARTIES BY REGION IN THE CHAMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES, 2010 English 5 SEATS Sources: 1 Workd Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/country/belgium 2 IA World Factbook, Belgium. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/be.html 3. Minority Rights Group. http://www.minorityrights.org/1511/belgium/flemings.html 4.National Bank of Belgium. http://www.nbb.be/pub/stats/stats.htm?thema=0&entity=Stats&pub=285-enätab-Publications 5. European Election Database http://www.nsd.uib.no/european_election_database/country/belgium/partieshtml All images created by the artist or available under public domain. Created by. Sarah McNeal, 3/26/2011 NUMBER OF SEATS A NATION DIVIDED an introduction to Belgium Contrary to popular belief, Belgium is not all about chocolate and waffles,(hough bt are deicous) In fact, this tiny little country is one of Europe's oddities. Forged by centuries of conquest by competing empires, from CAESAR and CHARLEMAGNE to NAPOLEON and HITLER, Belgium has become a microcosm of the European experience. But all is not well in the land of lace and French Fries. Belgium is increasingly becoming a nation divided. This is mostly due to the entrenched linguistic divide between the regions of FLANDERS and WALLONIA, which are monolingual in Dutch and French respectively. The capital Brussels is considered a separate region, and is bilingual. Flanders Brussels Wallonia This linguistic and cultural division ultimately means that EVERYTHING in Belgium is broken down regionally . POPULATION: ECONOMY: GDP in 2009 = €339 billion“ ($471 billion) Mixed/Other Walloon Flanders 57.1% Walloni Brussels 19.4 % Flemish 235% Belgian population in 2009 = over 10.7 million people. Contribution to GDP by Region ?!? POLITICS: 60% 40% Dutch French? There are NO NATIONAL PARTIES in Belgium. <1% Instead, Flemish votersS vote for Flemish parties and Walloon voters vote for Walloon parties. Only in Brussels are voters allowed to vote for any of the 12 major political parties. This leads to problems like the current political crisis, German where a Flemish nationalist party and a Walloon socialist party hold the majority of the seats in Parliament. These groups are expected to reach a compromise, but with such different political values, it's not surprising that Belgium still does NOT have a functioning federal government after nearly 300 days of negotiations. Bilingualism is also a problem in Belgium. FLANDERS: WALLONIA: 40% 59% 53% 19% 17% Dutch + Dutch English French+ French English English N-VA PS MR COSV SPA VLD VB CDH ECOLO GROEN! LDD PP PARTIES BY REGION IN THE CHAMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES, 2010 English 5 SEATS Sources: 1 Workd Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/country/belgium 2 IA World Factbook, Belgium. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/be.html 3. Minority Rights Group. http://www.minorityrights.org/1511/belgium/flemings.html 4.National Bank of Belgium. http://www.nbb.be/pub/stats/stats.htm?thema=0&entity=Stats&pub=285-enätab-Publications 5. European Election Database http://www.nsd.uib.no/european_election_database/country/belgium/partieshtml All images created by the artist or available under public domain. Created by. Sarah McNeal, 3/26/2011 NUMBER OF SEATS A NATION DIVIDED an introduction to Belgium Contrary to popular belief, Belgium is not all about chocolate and waffles,(hough bt are deicous) In fact, this tiny little country is one of Europe's oddities. Forged by centuries of conquest by competing empires, from CAESAR and CHARLEMAGNE to NAPOLEON and HITLER, Belgium has become a microcosm of the European experience. But all is not well in the land of lace and French Fries. Belgium is increasingly becoming a nation divided. This is mostly due to the entrenched linguistic divide between the regions of FLANDERS and WALLONIA, which are monolingual in Dutch and French respectively. The capital Brussels is considered a separate region, and is bilingual. Flanders Brussels Wallonia This linguistic and cultural division ultimately means that EVERYTHING in Belgium is broken down regionally . POPULATION: ECONOMY: GDP in 2009 = €339 billion“ ($471 billion) Mixed/Other Walloon Flanders 57.1% Walloni Brussels 19.4 % Flemish 235% Belgian population in 2009 = over 10.7 million people. Contribution to GDP by Region ?!? POLITICS: 60% 40% Dutch French? There are NO NATIONAL PARTIES in Belgium. <1% Instead, Flemish votersS vote for Flemish parties and Walloon voters vote for Walloon parties. Only in Brussels are voters allowed to vote for any of the 12 major political parties. This leads to problems like the current political crisis, German where a Flemish nationalist party and a Walloon socialist party hold the majority of the seats in Parliament. These groups are expected to reach a compromise, but with such different political values, it's not surprising that Belgium still does NOT have a functioning federal government after nearly 300 days of negotiations. Bilingualism is also a problem in Belgium. FLANDERS: WALLONIA: 40% 59% 53% 19% 17% Dutch + Dutch English French+ French English English N-VA PS MR COSV SPA VLD VB CDH ECOLO GROEN! LDD PP PARTIES BY REGION IN THE CHAMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES, 2010 English 5 SEATS Sources: 1 Workd Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/country/belgium 2 IA World Factbook, Belgium. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/be.html 3. Minority Rights Group. http://www.minorityrights.org/1511/belgium/flemings.html 4.National Bank of Belgium. http://www.nbb.be/pub/stats/stats.htm?thema=0&entity=Stats&pub=285-enätab-Publications 5. European Election Database http://www.nsd.uib.no/european_election_database/country/belgium/partieshtml All images created by the artist or available under public domain. Created by. Sarah McNeal, 3/26/2011 NUMBER OF SEATS