2 The Vlaams Belang: Party Organization and Party Dynamics

Abstract

The Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest – VB) is often singled out from the rest of the Belgian parties. It is portrayed as a threat to democracy in the media, ostracized from the rest of the party system via a cordon sanitaire, and often studied as a unique or pathologically deviant case in the scientific literature (Mudde 2010). This separation of the VB from the rest of the political landscape rests often on an analysis of the ideological foundations of the party. However, not much has been written about the party’s organization, especially in comparative terms.