Social policy, legitimation and diverging regional paths in Belgium

Abstract

Do regional governments gain legitimation from their social policy? Does regional social policy exert an effect that feeds citizens’ preferences for the regional level of government? The issue of the feedback effect of regional social policy arises in a context where, over the last three decades, regional governments across Europe were entrusted with core social policy responsibilities in health care, education, labour policy and social assistance (e.g. McEwen and Moreno, 2005). Examining such feedback effects contributes to the analysis of democracy at the regional level (e.g. Loughlin, Hendriks and Lidstrom, 2010). The article addresses the legitimation effects of regional social policy by investigating the case of Belgium, more specifically, the two regional cases of Flanders and Wallonia. These cases provide something akin to a natural experiment, as the federalization of the country occurred concurrently to the development of diverging regional paths from what were once close starting points, that is, long-term convergence between Flanders and Wallonia existed until 1993. After this date, however, citizens in Flanders have increasingly shown both a preference for the regional level of government and a stronger identification with the region. Wallonia experienced opposite patterns: From 1993 on, citizens have expressed less support for the regional level and a decreased regional identification. The overall picture emerging from our analyses is one of long-run convergence between Flanders and Wallonia up to 1993, and divergence thereafter. To account for these contrasting evolutionary patterns, we contend that legitimation effects through regional social policy-making cannot be taken for granted. Specifically, this chapter argues that legitimation effects are dependent on three requirements that may or may not be met: First, regional social policy design must be distinct, standing out from previous policies; second, regional policies need to be supported by a public discourse; and, third, policies need to perform well and build performance satisfaction among citizens. In fact, there are strong differences regarding the three proposed requirements in Flanders and Wallonia. While each is fulfilled in the Flemish side of the country, none of them is in the French-speaking part. Simultaneously, we find contrasted systems of citizen evaluation and perception of regional governments in the two regions. The remainder of the chapter is organized as follows. The first section provides historical insights into government use of social policy as a legitimation instrument and elaborates on the theoretical argument we make. The second section presents the chapter’s methodology and data, and explains the choice of Belgium as a natural-like case study. The third section is dedicated to the empirical analysis. Following the presentation of the dependent variable, we report on whether the three requirements are fulfilled in the two Belgian regions. The fourth concluding section discusses the results and the possibility and difficulties to infer the operation of policy feedbacks from the empirics in the present cases.