Misplaced Pages

Waffle-iron politics

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Wafelijzerpolitiek) Belgian political budgeting strategy
A bridge over a railway in Varsenare from 1976, never connected to roads on both ends.

Waffle-iron politics is a Belgian political strategy used in the past for determining the budget for projects in the country's two major regions, Flanders and Wallonia. Under this policy, for every franc spent on a project in Wallonia, a franc was also spent on a similar project in Flanders (and vice versa).

The social and linguistic divisions between Flanders and Wallonia meant that the compromise of waffle-iron politics helped to maintain political peace. However, matching spending in one region with equal allocations to the other was costly and inefficient. Waffle-iron politics was a key cause of the Belgian national debt. In 1981, public debt amounted to 130% of GNP, among the highest in the European Community at the time.

Waffle-iron politics also led to the creation of several grote nutteloze bouwwerken (large useless construction works) that were misplaced or unnecessary public use. One example is the bridges in Varsenare, two bridges built in 1976 that were never connected to a highway.

The Dutch word wafelijzerpolitiek literally translates to "waffle-iron politics" or "waffle-iron policy". The name is based on the idea that the waffle-iron always leaves an identical impression on both sides of waffles being baked. Both sides of the iron are necessary in order for the machine to function.

Waffles on a double-sided iron

Waffle-iron politics effectively came to an end in 1988 with the third state reform in Belgium. Belgium went from a unitary state to a federal one, giving each region more decision-making power. Flanders and Wallonia became responsible for their own spending, except in matters affecting the entire state.

See also

References

  1. Lambrechts, Toon. "Lost Highway" (PDF). www.flanderstoday.eu. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  2. kld (4 August 2011). "Wafelijzerpolitiek". standaard.be. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  3. La Libre Belgique (13 June 2003). "La politique du gaufrier". lalibre.be. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  4. Van Heffen, Oscar (1999). "Higher education policies and institutional response in Flanders". From the Eye of the Storm. pp. 263–293. doi:10.1007/978-94-015-9263-5_12. ISBN 978-90-481-5355-8.
  5. Bernheim, Jan (2014). "Questions and Answers on the Belgian Model of Integral End-of-Life Care: Experiment? Prototype?". Journal of Bioethical Inquiry. 11 (4): 507–529. doi:10.1007/s11673-014-9554-z. PMC 4263821. PMID 25124983.
  6. La Libre Belgique (13 June 2003). "La politique du gaufrier". lalibre.be. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  7. De Wit, Kurt & Heffen, Oscar & Verhoeven. "Government, higher education and the national economy: Case study of Flanders". kuleuven.be. Retrieved 1 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. Lambrechts, Toon. "Lost Highway" (PDF). www.flanderstoday.eu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  9. Defossé, Jean-Claude (1990). Le petit guide des Grands Travaux Inutiles. Brussels: Paul Legrain & RTBF Édition.
  10. Hooghe, Marc (2009). "From Armed Peace to Permanent Crisis: Cracks in the Belgian Consultative Model". The Low Countries: Arts and Society in Flanders and the Netherlands (17): 227–233. Retrieved 30 Apr 2020.
  11. Belgian Federal Government (5 June 2013). "The third and fourth State reforms". belgium.be. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  12. De Wit, Kurt (1 October 1998). "Case study of Flanders: Government, higher education, and the national economy". Centre for Theoretical Sociology and Sociology of Education - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven: 22. Retrieved 28 Apr 2020.
Categories: