Governing multicultural Brussels: paradoxes of a multi-level, multi-cultural, multi-national urban anomaly

Abstract

Updating our earlier work on Brussels as the paradigm of a multi-level, multi-cultural, multinational city, and in the context of BrusselsÕs recent troubled emergence as the epicentre of violent conflict between radical political Islam and the West, this paper sets out the paradoxical intersection of national (i.e. Flemish and Francophone), non-national and ethnic minority politics in a city placed as a multi-cultural and multinational Ôurban anomalyÕ at the heart of linguistic struggle of the two dominant Belgian communities. Brussels is one of the three Regions of the Belgian federal model alongside Flanders and Wallonia. It is also an extraordinarily diverse and cosmopolitan city, in which a mixed language Belgian population lives alongside very high numbers of resident non-nationals, including European elites, other European immigrant workers, and immigrants from Africa and Asia. After laying out the complex distribution of power and competences within the Belgian federal structure, we explore whether these structures have worked over the years to include or exclude disadvantaged ethnic groups. To better understand these processes, we introduce our view of the multilevel governance perspective.

Institutional Strategies in the Ridesharing Economy: A Content Analysis Based on Uber’s Example

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Zo ver of zo dichtbij? Perceptie van de burger over de aanwezigheid van de internationale instellingen in Brussel

“…Zo besloot ze in juli 2021 om niet langer te focussen op de uitbreiding maar op de vermindering van de gebruikte oppervlakte met 25 % en op de samenvoeging van haar werklocaties [Malingre, 2021]. Op het vlak van veiligheid hebben de terroristische aanslagen in Brussel, en vooral in de Europese Wijk, van 2016 de angst vergroot dat de aanwezigheid van de internationale instellingen een doelwit maakt van de stad [Bousetta et al, 2018].…”

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“…Par ailleurs, les fortes restrictions de mobilité et les nouveaux modes de travail qui en ont résulté, de même que des considérations écologiques 2 , ont conduit la Commission européenne à amender considérablement ses projets de présence dans la ville, passant en juillet 2021 d'une perspective d'expansion à celle d'une réduction d'un quart des surfaces occupées et d'un regroupement de ses sites [Malingre, 2021]. Au plan sécuritaire, les attentats ayant frappé la ville, et en particulier le Quartier européen, en 2016 ont renforcé les peurs de voir la présence des institutions internationales faire de Bruxelles une cible [Bousetta et al, 2018].…”