By Pascal Delwit
New chapter in the Palgrave Handbook of Radical Left Parties in Europe co-edited by Fabien Escalona, Daniel Keith, Luke March.
Abstract
The focus of this chapter is the Labour Party of Belgium (parti du travailde belgique-Parti j van de Arbeid). The party originated as a Maoist party, developed into Marxist-Leninist party and now represents a party which retains a communist core, but presents itself publicly as a modern anti-establishment and even social populist force. Against the background of the Great Recession and the ongoing problems in Belgian democracy, the party’s more pragmatic and modern face, and its presentation as a unifying all-Belgian force, has allowed it to develop unprecedented electoral success at the 2014 and 2019 national elections and the 2019 European elections. The party may nonetheless face a more problematic period, as it increasingly becomes more relevant both to coalition formation and to the trajectories of its socialist and Green competitors.