ECPR Potsdam General Conference, 10-12 September 2009 Section: Territorial Politics Panel: The future of Belgian Federalism Chair: Min Reuchamps – Co-chair: Wilfried Swenden The Future of Belgian Federalism through the Eyes of the Political Actors Régis Dandoy University of Brussels (ULB), Department of Political Science, rdandoy@ulb.ac.be Geoffroy Matagne Université de Liège (ULg), Department of Political Science, gmatagne@ulg.ac.be Caroline Van Wynsberghe Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Department of Political and Social Sciences, c.vanwynsberghe@uclouvain.be Abstract The aim of this paper is to analyse the political practices and discourses of the recent years in the Belgian federal arena and, more precisely, the visions of the different political actors over the future of federalism. Using primarily electoral manifestos data and coalition agreements, this paper intends to identify patterns and models of the preferred shape of federalism, its long term future, its extent, its degree of multi-level cooperation and its institutions. The different scenarios will be observed through an in-depth analysis of the terminology and the various arguments. This paper shows how the influence of the ideology and electoral strategies of the various actors, but also contextual political factors (political crisis, proximity of elections, etc.) as well as the very nature of the different political actors (incumbent vs. opposition parties, regional vs. federal MPs, etc.) explain the ambiguous – yet functional – (lack of a) common ‘vision’ about the future of Belgian federalism. Keywords: Belgium, federalism, political parties, political manifestos, coalition agreements Work in progress. Comments welcomed