Bulletin n. 2-3/2013
February 2014
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Jan Erk
    Mobilizing in the Vernacular : Environmentalist and Federal Institutional Change in Belgium and Germany
    in Canadian Journal of Political Science--Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 46 - Issue 02 ,  2013 ,  345-367
    This article proposes the nexus between social movements, interest groups and citizen initiatives, on the one hand, and federalism, on the other, as the key to unlock a theory of gradual institutional change. The empirical context is the pattern of mobilization of Belgian and German environmentalists. In time, subnational jurisdiction over environment in Germany gave way to a nationwide one, while national policy in Belgium was devolved to the subnational level. Evidence shows that, in addition to direct institutional opportunities and constraints external to interest groups, a key internal factor—language—indirectly influenced the level mobilization in the long run. United by a common language, various German environmentalist groups gravitated towards a nationwide frame of reference, in due course bringing about institutional changes towards nationwide policies. In Belgium, divisions between Flemings and Francophones brought institutional change in the opposite direction.
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