RepResent Longitudinal and Cross-sectional electoral survey 2019

This data deposit contains two surveys, organised by the FWO/FNRS Excellence of Science Consortium RepResent (Representation and Democratic Resentment) in the context of the 2019 general elections in Belgium. The RepResent project aims to understand how three forms of representations - substantive, procedural and symbolic - affect democratic resentment amongst the public. It brings together scholars from five Belgian universities, including University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, KU Leuven, UCLouvain, and Université Libre de Bruxelles. For more information on the project, visit http://represent-project.be/ The first dataset is the longitudinal dataset which contains survey data from a CAWI survey amongst representative samples of Flemish, Walloon and Brussels citizens. Respondents in this survey were surveyed twice, once before the elections, and once again immediately after the elections. In total, the wave 1 sample comprises N=7,351 respondents (3,298 in Flanders, 3,025 in Wallonia, and 1,028 in Brussels), whereas the wave 2 sample comprises N=3,917 respondents (1,978 in Flanders, 1,429 in Wallonia, and 510 in Brussels). The second dataset is a cross sectional CAWI survey amongst Flemish (N=1,012) and Walloon (N=1,024) citizens that was organised immediately after the elections. The deposit contains STATA and SPSS versions of each dataset, as well as accompanying codebooks that outline the field work, samples, and full questionnaires

RepResent Cross Sectional Survey Fall 2021

This data deposit contains cross sectional survey data, organised by the FWO/FNRS Excellence of Science Consortium RepResent (Representation and Democratic Resentment) in Fall 2021 amongst adult citizens in Belgium's two largest regions (Flanders and Wallonia). The RepResent project aims to understand how three forms of representations - substantive, procedural and symbolic - affect democratic resentment amongst the public. It brings together scholars from five Belgian universities, including University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, KU Leuven, UCLouvain, and Université Libre de Bruxelles. For more information on the project, visit http://represent-project.be/ The survey data stems from a CAWI survey amongst a quota sample of Flemish and Walloon citizens, that resemble the population of the respective region in terms of age, gender and education. The field work ran from October 29: 2021 to November 14, 2021. In total, N=2,035 respondents completed the survey and are retained in the data. The deposit contains CSV, STATA and SPSS versions of the dataset, as well as an accompanying codebook that briefly describe the field work, research design, samples, and full questionnaires

Choosing coalition partners in Belgian local government

Government formation is a crucial phase after elections. This article focusses on coalition formation in Belgian local government after the elections in 2006. Coalition theories have mainly been developed at the national level, but they are also applicable to the local level where there is no shortage of coalitions. This level offers the opportunity to not only test rather classic coalition theories such as minimum size theories or the coalitions' incumbency status. In a federal state like Belgium we can compare the local coalitions with coalitions made at higher levels. The results show that the local political parties prefer to form minimal winning and minimum parties coalitions, but not the smallest coalition that is possible. Coalitions are also more likely to form when they represent the incumbent coalition. Finally, political parties prefer congruent coalitions with the federal and regional government