Een rode draad voor een blauw verhaal. De links-liberale uitwerking van mimetische representatie en de opvattingen overt democratisch burgerschap in België, 1893-1900

Abstract

A red thread running through a blue story. The leftist-liberal result of mimetic representation and the views on democratic citizenship in Belgium, 1893- 1900.During the 1890s, Belgium was a laboratory for political innovations in the eyes of contemporary politicians and scholars. The liberals who identified themselves with the classic parliamentary government were very uneasy with the introduction of universal suffrage. This article examines the representation question from the point of view of the Belgian Parti Progressiste. This radical liberal political party tried to implement its republican ideas of citizenship in order to make the electorate and ‘the people’ into one and the same. This vision, coined as ‘mimetic representation’, consisted of simultaneous efforts in party formation with a constitutional reform programme. The blueprint for reform consisted of three Rs: proportional representation, representation of interests, and the referendum.