Does Money Matter? A Case Study of the Effect of Economic Disparity on Support for Separatist Political Parties

• Main Authors: Russell, Paul, Jacoby, Dr. Wade
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2014
• Subjects: economic disparity; separatist political parties; Belgium; money; Political Science; Orca
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2014/iss1/270; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/context/jur/article/2609/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf

I was awarded an ORCA grant to study the causes of support for separatist political parties in Belgium. In January of 2011, I had the opportunity to travel to Belgium as an intern for a political party at the European Parliament in Brussels. The grant that I received helped to make this possible and gave me the chance to see the conflict between northern Belgium (Flanders) and southern Belgium (Wallonia) first hand. During my time in Belgium – and for months afterwards – the country had no viable central government. Political parties from the two main regions were unable to agree: several parties in Flanders were in favor of complete independence for their region and were unable to compromise with the parties in the south. My goal was to understand the motivations behind this disunity.