Politics of the Low Countries

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The summary of the PhD dissertation by @brittvandewalle.bsky.social : plc-journal.eu/article/view...
A critical review of the PhD dissertation by @bramwauters.bsky.social (@gasparugent.bsky.social): plc-journal.eu/article/view...

💡Data from interviews led to the development of a typology of four different kind of PPTTs: party assistants, party supporters, party promoters and party intellectuals.

💡Aside from organizational features, PPTTs are also frequently shaped by both system-level factors and party factors.

Some interesting highlights of Britt’s work:

💡The roles taken on by political party think tanks (PPTTs) not only differ between countries and point in time, but are also dependent on party dynamics and their level of autonomy.

📢 New publication 📢

We are excited to shine a light on @brittvandewalle.bsky.social’s PhD project (@io-pgi-kuleuven.bsky.social, @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social) as part of our PhD Summary and Review section!

🧠The Brains Behind the Party: Varying and Evolving Roles of Political Party Think Tanks

💎 PLC is #diamondopenaccess thanks to Radboud University Press

doi.org/10.54195/plc...

🔽 Top-down local authorities isolate themselves from the local energy expertise of local climate stakeholders and maintain weak institutional capacities, which contributes to maintaining existing lock-in dynamics.

The main takes from their research?
🔁 Municipalities with polycentric governance systems manage to escape lock-in dynamics thanks to local climate stakeholders involvement and a reinforced local institutional capacity.

👉 Authors identify seven types of (more or less intentional) climate delay discourses at the local level.

#Localenergygovernance #Polycentricgovernance #Climatedelay #Lockin #Qualitativemethods

👉 Qualitative research based on fieldwork interviews with 66 actors of local energy governance in 18 rural municipalities in Wallonia
👉 Authors distinguish two governance systems at the local level: polycentric and top-down.

New research article published #openaccess in PLC ! 🤩

Loïc Cobut and @amandine-orsini.bsky.social (CReSPo - UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) demonstrate that local governance structures can contribute to overcoming or maintaining carbon-intensive lock-ins.

🆓 Download here: doi.org/10.54195/plc...

💡 Summary of the PhD dissertation by Lisa Verhasselt ( @uni.lu ) : doi.org/10.54195/plc...

💡 Critical review of the PhD by @nicolecurato.bsky.social (University of Birmingham) : doi.org/10.54195/plc...

🆓 Both pieces are #openaccess, like all publications in PLC thanks to Radboud University Press

👉 Adaptation is key: Deliberative processes must tailor language choices to context, not use one-size-fits-all models.

Congratulations Lisa and thanks for choosing PLC!

#Deliberativedemocracy #CitizensAssemblies #Multilingualism #Luxembourg #Inputthroughputoutputlegitimacy

Some key conclusions:
👉 Language matters: Multilingualism strongly shapes who participates and how deliberation works.
👉 Luxembourg shows both sides: Multilingual assemblies boost inclusion but need careful design to avoid exclusion.
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We're pleased to open the PhD Review & Summary section of the 8th volume of PLC (2026, issue 1) with the very first review in PLC of a PhD based in Luxembourg !

🎓 "Deliberative democracy amidst the Tower of Babel. Insights from Luxembourgish deliberative minipublics" (Lisa Verhasselt, @uni.lu )

Congratulations to the 3 authors 👏

The publication is #openaccess : doi.org/10.54195/plc...

#Belgium #EuropeanUnion #CounciloftheEU #Rotatingpresidency

💎 Radboud University Press #diamondopenaccess

⭐ Success varied across policy fields: high rates in economic affairs and justice/home affairs, lower in environmental policy.
⭐ Preference heterogeneity within the Council boosted success, while high stakeholder attention reduced it, showing internal dynamics mattered more than external pressures.

Main takes from their research
⭐ The Belgian Presidency significantly increased the likelihood of trilogue deals on files it prioritized, making them 6.7 times more likely to succeed.
⭐ Overall, 56% of prioritized files were successfully negotiated, compared to only 15% of non-prioritized files.

🚀 Very first publication in PLC in 2026, a research note by Thomas Laloux, Tom Delreux & Emilien Mercenier (ISPOLE-UCLouvain) on whether the Belgian 2024 Presidency of the Council of the EU was successful in reaching trilogue deals on prioritised files, & what explains the variation in that success.

📬 We still welcome your submissions for research articles, research notes, literature reviews, PhD summaries&reviews or opinion pieces in our State of the profession section. Submit on our website: plc-journal.eu

🆓 All PLC publications are #openaccess thanks to Radboud University Press.

🎁 We are very pleased to have set up an International Advisory Board for PLC. @hannaeback.bsky.social, @leoniedejonge.bsky.social, @catherinedevries.bsky.social & @martingross.bsky.social agreed to provide strategic input for PLC and help uphold high scholarly standards. Thanks to all!
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🤝 In its last meeting, PLC Editorial Board appointed Take Sipma (Tilburg University) as new Board member. A warm welcome Take !

@takesipma.bsky.social

📢 PLC will be in the spotlight at the 13th ed. of State of the Federation, the ABSP-VPW conference. Join our editors-in-chief @mauritsmeijers.bsky.social & @audreyvdleene.bsky.social on Feb 6 in Antwerp for the launch session of PLC as Diamond Open Access journal 💎

www.uantwerpen.be/nl/overuantw...

📚 Papers are in the making for the SI on #democraticinnovations "Reinventing Democracy in the Low Countries: Evidence, Insights, and Next Frontiers in Democratic Innovations Research" guest edited by E Paulis, D Talukder & @takesipma.bsky.social. Expect a thick issue!

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✨Big plans for PLC in 2026 ✨

📚 The first research articles from the special issue on #localpolitics "Local democracy in the Low Countries: at the base changing face?" guest edited by Kristof Steyvers and @ostaaijen.bsky.social will be out soon !

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🚂 Authors underscore the importance of longitudinal case studies in understanding the impact of liberalization policies on public organizations and bureaucratic autonomy.

🚂 The article highlights the challenges of unbundling infrastructure management and transportation activities, including coordination issues between Infrabel and SNCB/NMBS. ​

🚂Infrabel's autonomy is nuanced, dynamic, and negotiated, with significant legal and managerial autonomy but limited financial and structural independence due to government control. ​

Sneak peak into their work:
🚂 The article examines the autonomy of Belgium's railway infrastructure manager, Infrabel, over 25 years, focusing on the effects of EU liberalization policies.

⏰ Publication alert!

Just in time before the end of the year, we published the final piece of the 2025 issue: a research article by Damien Piron, Amandine Andrien, Tom Frenea, Gatien Grommen, Alex Pierre & Yanis Tambour - @universitedeliege.bsky.social

👉 doi.org/10.54195/plc...

#openaccess

@vd-researchgroup.bsky.social