比利時的族群政治

Ethnic Politics: The Case of Belgium

謝國斌(Kuo-Pin Hsieh)

《台灣國際研究季刊》 3卷4期 (2007/12) Pp. 157-175

摘要

由古鑑今，族群衝突帶給人們的都是無盡的痛苦，輕則弱勢族群受到歧視待遇，重則甚至被滅種屠殺。被壓迫的族群是否有機會得到平等的社會價值分配，甚至追求獨立自主？今日除了非民主國家之外，先進民主國家都已經採取和平民主的方式來解決族群衝突的問題。除了開放弱勢族群獨立自主的機會外，基於族群間分工互利之工具理性考量，多數民主國家也都在不分裂國家的前提下，尋求和平民主之化解族群衝突方法。
多族群的比利時即是一個相當成功的例子，雖然從1830年獨立建國迄今，其境內荷語與法語族群在社會價值的競爭上從沒間斷，零星的衝突也會發生，但卻鮮少升高為大規模的血腥衝突。本文發現，比利時在面對族群衝突時，除了不排除「分裂」的選項外，也透過各種權力分享的制度設計，例如協和民主;聯邦主義等，來滿足不同族群的需求，進而維繫住比利時的統一。本文以族群政治為核心，希望藉由介紹比利時的經驗，進而能提供給同樣是多族群的台灣一個有意義的啟示。

關鍵字

比利時 ； 族群 ； 族群政治 ； 聯邦主義

並列摘要

While most multiethnic countries face the destiny of ethnic conflicts and frequently fail to prevent painful ethnic conflicts from escalating to disasters; the case of Belgium seems to be an exception. Ethnic conflict in Belgium has been intense and constant throughout its history; but surprisingly its result has been peaceful. The purpose of this paper is to explore how Belgium manages its ethnic conflict and prevents the country from falling apart. As many scholars have argued; the political culture of its historical ”Belgian compromise” has been playing an important role in keeping Belgium peaceful and together. However; the institutionalization of its compromise culture; especially the power-sharing consociational legacy; is even more decisive in maintaining a balance between Flemish and French-speakers. The successful case of Belgium's conscociational democracy indicates that ethnic conflicts are likely to be managed through appropriate power-sharing institutional designs.

並列關鍵字

Belgium ； ethnic conflict ； ethnic politics ； federalism

參考文獻

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