Caretaker Governments in Belgium

Abstract

This chapter sets out the definition and main characteristics of caretaker governments and gives a brief quantitative account of the importance of this political phenomenon in the last two decades in Belgium. It investigates the consequences a caretaker government generates for the stability and popularity of the sitting cabinet. The chapter analyzes the types of actions that caretaker governments can undertake and tests whether the scope of actions tends to increase over time. It discusses the main empirical findings based on the detailed analysis of the Belgian caretaker cabinets between 2007 and 2020. Most prior works investigating the impact of caretaker governments on actual policymaking in Belgium have focused on the long-lasting political crisis of 2010-2011. Yet, political deadlocks are merely the tip of the iceberg, as federal elections and other major political crises have led to shorter or longer situations of a federal caretaker government.