Eroding Rights, Crafting Solidarity? Shifting Dynamics in the State–Civil Society Nexus in Flanders and Brussels

Abstract

In 2015, hundreds of new civil initiatives emerged to provide stopgap help to refugees arriving in Belgium. This article zooms out from this moment of solidarity and explores the broader socio-political conditions that allowed these initiatives to emerge and, in some cases, solidify into professional service-providers or powerful political actors. The article focuses on two case studies, one in Flanders and one in Brussels. In Flanders, the Hospitable Network brings together local civil initiatives which have drawn upon the networks and skills of senior citizens with considerable experience in civic associations, NGOs and social movements. While these initiatives have partly filled the gaps that were created by a series of neoliberal reforms in Flanders’ citizenship regime, the same neoliberal outlook has prevented these initiatives from being institutionalised. In Brussels, the Citizen Platform for the Support of Refugees has mobilised largely among the city’s super-diverse population. The Platform’s development has been shaped by Brussels’ continuing attractiveness to immigrants, as well as by the city’s complex governance structure, which has provided it with both material support and increasing opposition. As a result, the Platform has become a highly visible political actor offering partly professionalised support to refugees.

The social network of solidarity with migrants: The role of perceived injunctive norms on intergroup helping behaviors

“…Since the so-called "refugee crisis" of 2015, Belgium has experienced the emergence of a wide range of solidarity initiatives providing support to asylum seekers, refugees and, more broadly, migrants. (Vandevoordt, 2019). With the support of the Platform's coordinators, we conducted an online survey among these mobilized citizens in 2018.…”

Untitled

“…It has been more than 50 years since, in the absence of a coherent political vision on integration, civil society organisations set up primary integration practices. Between 1980 and 1990, after shifting integration to the regional (Flemish) level, both civil and state-actors collaborated closely with one another to establish an integration policy (Vandevoordt, 2019). However, since then, a politically-driven evolution, based on a control and instrumentalise approach, has reformed the integration sector (Debruyne, 2019).…”

“…Because of this downsizing, a lot of responsibilities for integration, including support to access housing, shifted to the local level (CPASs, CAWs, SVKs, VDAB). Due to a lack of volunteers and resources, or lack of political will, local authorities are not always able to take up these housing responsibilities (Vandevoordt, 2019). Sublimating the support to access housing as a part of regional integration policy, there is now no public authority responsible for the organisation of individual's transition from reception to housing.…”

“…First, in Belgium, there is hardly any relationship between the strictly defined policy domains of asylum and reception which are organised at the federal level, and domains such as integration and housing which are implemented at the regional level (Wyckaert, 2017). Due to this policy gap, no state institution is responsible for administering the transition of recognised refugees into the housing market (Vandevoordt, 2019). Unlike neighbouring countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, Belgium does not provide initial housing and newcomers must, therefore, find accommodation by themselves.…”

The Refugee Reception Crisis : Polarized Opinions and Mobilizations

“…Park Maximiliaan and the actors involved quickly got media attention and became the most visible expression of the solidarity towards asylum seekers but also of the protest against the government's political orientation and discourse. At the same time, BxlRefugees had also access to logistic and financial support from the local government of the Brussels-Capital Region, finding opportunities in the multi-level governance system (Vandevoordt 2019). This kind of civil society initiatives have been interpreted in Belgium as replacing the government immobility.…”