Belgium: a linguistically divided society

Detail

1. Belgium at a glance

• Location: Belgium is a small country in Europe. It is smaller than the Indian state of Haryana.
• Neighbours: it shares borders with four countries: France, the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg.
• Population: about 1.18 crore (11.76 million) in 2025 [6]. (NCERT: "a little over one crore".)
• Why NCERT uses it: Belgium is a small country with deep language divisions. It still stayed united because it shared power between its groups instead of letting the majority rule alone. NCERT compares it with Sri Lanka, where the majority chose the opposite path.

2. The language split

Group	Region	Language	Share of people (NCERT)
Flemish	Flemish region (Flanders), in the north	Dutch	59%
Walloons	Wallonia, in the south	French	40%
German speakers	Small area in the east	German	1%

• Three language areas: in the 1960s the government formally divided Belgium into three language regions: Dutch-speaking Flanders, French-speaking Wallonia, and bilingual Brussels (an area where both languages are official) [4].

3. The Brussels problem

• Brussels is the capital. In NCERT's figures, 80% of its people speak French and 20% speak Dutch.
• Majority and minority at the same time:
• In the country as a whole, Dutch speakers are the majority (59%).
• In the capital, Dutch speakers are the minority (20%).

• French speakers are the reverse: a minority in the country, but the majority in Brussels.

• Why this matters: neither group could simply follow the rule "the majority decides". A rule that favoured one group in the country would hurt the same group in the capital. Both sides therefore had a reason to share power.

4. Concept: ethnic group

• Ethnic group: a social group whose members share a culture and believe they have a common descent. They hold this belief because they look physically alike, share a culture, or both.
• What is not needed: members of an ethnic group need not share the same religion or nationality.
• In Belgium: the main divide is language and culture (Dutch-speaking Flemish vs French-speaking Walloons), not religion.
• Exam trap: "ethnic" does not mean "religious" or "national". In Sri Lanka, Sinhala and Tamil are ethnic groups that also differ in religion. In Belgium, they do not.

5. Why tension grew (NCERT)

• Unequal start:
• The French-speaking minority was richer and more powerful.
• Dutch speakers got the benefits of economic development and education later.

• Dutch speakers resented this gap.

• When and where: tension between the two communities grew in the 1950s and 1960s. It was sharpest in Brussels, where the national majority (Dutch) was the local minority.

6. How the divide was built (beyond NCERT)

• 1830, independence: French was the language of the elite, the government and higher education. Dutch was seen as a lower-status language.
• Flemish movement: a 19th- and 20th-century nationalist movement of Dutch (Flemish) speakers. It wanted political and cultural equality with the long-dominant French speakers, and sometimes separation from them [2].
• 1830s: it began as a revival of the Flemish literary language [2].

• By the 1850s: it asked for separate Flemish and Walloon army units, Flemish in courts and the administration, and Flemish in schools [2].

• Language laws of the 1930s:

• 1930: Flemish became the only language of teaching at the University of Ghent [2].
• 1932: Flemish became the language of teaching in all primary and secondary schools in Flemish areas. Separate Flemish army units and a Flemish military academy were set up [2].
• In the 1930s Flanders and Wallonia became legally unilingual (one-language) regions. Only Brussels and the area around it stayed bilingual [2].

7. Fixing the line: 1962-63 and Leuven

• Language border (1962-63):
• In early 1961 there were massive strikes in Wallonia.
• After them, Parliament passed acts in 1962-63 fixing a permanent language border [4].

• A special arrangement was made for the bilingual area around Brussels [4].

• Catholic University of Leuven:

• Leuven lies in Flanders but taught in French as well as Dutch. Flemish students demanded that French-speaking sections leave.
• The crisis peaked in 1968. Student riots, ethnic protests and upheaval in the government followed [3].
• The university was reorganised into separate Flemish and French divisions in 1969. It was formally split into two universities in 1970 [3].

• The French-speaking part moved to a new campus in Wallonia (Louvain-la-Neuve).

• Why it matters: even a university could not stay united once language became the main political identity.

8. The economic reversal

• Old pattern:
• Belgium became a major steel producer in the early 19th century.
• Its factories were in the Walloon coal-mining region, especially the Sambre-Meuse valley [5].

• So the French-speaking south was richer.

• What changed:

• Wallonia declined. By the late 20th century its coal was exhausted, its old steel industry was inefficient, labour costs had risen sharply and foreign investment had fallen [5].

• Flanders grew rich. After World War II, light manufacturing and chemical industries in the Flemish north grew fast [5].

• Result: the old "rich French speakers, poorer Dutch speakers" pattern turned around. The north is now the richer region.

9. Today's friction

• Fiscal transfers: taxes raised in richer Flanders help pay for welfare and services in poorer Wallonia. Many Flemish voters dislike these north-to-south transfers.
• Flemish nationalism:
• N-VA (New Flemish Alliance): a separatist party. In the 2010 federal election it came first with 27 seats, a gain of 19 [7]. Its leader Bart De Wever became mayor of Antwerp after the October 2012 local elections [7].

• Vlaams Belang: a far-right party that wants Flanders to become independent.

• Lesson: power-sharing kept Belgium together, but it did not end the conflict. It turned the conflict into bargaining inside the system instead of violence.

10. NCERT's "Just imagine": the counterfactual

• The question: what if the Dutch-speaking majority had used its numbers to force its will on everyone?
• NCERT's answer:
• The French-speaking minority would have refused to accept it.
• The country could have split in a messy way.

• Both sides would have claimed Brussels: Dutch speakers because it is the capital of the country they dominate, French speakers because they are its majority.

• What Belgium did instead: between 1970 and 1993 it changed its constitution four times. It moved to a system of power-sharing (the Belgian model, covered in the next section). This is the opposite of Sri Lanka's majoritarianism (the belief that the majority community should rule the country however it wants, ignoring the minority's wishes). Sri Lanka followed this path with the Sinhala Only Act, 1956, and it ended in civil war (1983-2009).

Prelims Hooks

• Belgium borders France, the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg. It does not border Switzerland or Denmark.
• NCERT language shares: Dutch 59% (Flanders), French 40% (Wallonia), German 1%.
• Brussels: 80% French, 20% Dutch. Dutch speakers are the national majority but the minority in the capital.
• Trap: in NCERT's account, the minority French speakers were the richer and more powerful group, not the majority.
• Ethnic group: a shared culture and a belief in common descent. Members need not share religion or nationality.
• Belgium's language border was fixed by acts of Parliament in 1962-63, after the 1961 Walloon strikes [4].
• University of Ghent became Flemish-only in 1930. The Catholic University of Leuven split into two universities in 1970, after the 1968 crisis [2][3].
• N-VA came first in Belgium's 2010 election with 27 seats [7].
• Belgium is smaller than Haryana and has about 1.18 crore people (2025) [6].

Mains Points

• Majoritarianism versus accommodation: Belgium shows that when a majority is also a minority somewhere (as Dutch speakers are in Brussels), accommodation is a practical need, not just a moral choice. NCERT's counterfactual (a messy split over Brussels) and Sri Lanka's civil war (1983-2009) show what imposing the majority's will can cost.
• Prudential and moral reasons: power-sharing is prudential (it reduces conflict and keeps the country stable) and moral (minorities get a fair share in decisions, which is the spirit of democracy). Belgium's history shows both.
• Economic inequality drives ethnic conflict: in Belgium the language divide hurt most because it followed a gap in wealth and power. When wealth moved to Flanders, the quarrel changed from "language rights" to "fiscal transfers". Language policy alone cannot settle a divide that is also economic.
• Lessons for India (GS-II): India also chose accommodation. It formed linguistic states, recognises several languages instead of imposing one, and protects minority culture and educational institutions (Articles 29-30). Belgium's experience suggests these arrangements reduce conflict but need constant renegotiation. Fair sharing of money between regions matters as much as language rights.