In Belgium and in Canada federalism is a topical subject. Politicians, journalists and citizens are spending a lot of energy in trying to better understand this complex political system and how it applies to the population as a whole. The work entitled Federalism in Belgium and in Canada. Sociopolitical Comparison (1), which has just been published by De Boeck University publications, offers a comparative dialogue between Belgian and Canadian specialists around five large themes. The volume will also be available in Canada.

The work by Bernard Fournier, a lecturer in the Department of Political Sciences within the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, and Min Reuchamps, an FNRS researcher in the same department, springs from a conference organised in May 2008 under the auspices of the Department of Political Sciences and the University of Liège’s Centre for Quebec Studies. The authors stress from the outset that the work does not see itself as a strict comparison of the five major themes (the dynamics of federalism, the division of powers, the protection of minorities, para-diplomacy and the future of the two federations), but more as a reflection, a comparative dialogue between Belgian and Canadian specialists. ‘The work’s general idea is related to the course on Comparative Federalism I give here at the University of Liège,’ underlines Bernard Fournier. ‘The work draws its inspiration from a course in which it is hoped that the students will use the Canadian case, or at least certain of its aspects, to try to better understand the Belgian case.’ It is the first work of its kind to unite five major points of comparison in the same volume. ‘Here it is not a question of considering the importing or exporting of such or such good or bad practices from one country to another,’ picks up Min Reuchamps, ‘but more of discovering what the other is doing and of stressing the advantages and drawbacks offered by federalism in Belgium and Canada.’

The work constitutes a good introduction for novices to the Belgian and Canadian political systems but also allows people to find deeper responses to a given subject. ‘There are, despite everything, some questions that we could not approach due to a lack of space,’ continues Min Reuchamps. ‘We based ourselves on the major themes of what could be compared on either side, and we wanted to offer a relatively complete institutional landscape of the two federal systems in a very introductory manner, whilst previous works had been based on very specific questions.’

(1) FOURNIER B. and REUCHAMPS M. (dir.), Federalism in Belgium and in Canada. Sociopolitical Comparison, Bruxelles, De Boeck Université, Coll. "Ouvertures sociologiques", february 2009.