Language and Territoriality: The Pacification of the Belgian Language Conflict

Since the creation of Belgium in 1830, language conflicts are a common thread through the history of the state and one of the main driving forces that shaped the country as it is today. After a period of language tensions with shifting language borders and altering language statuses of the municipalities around the capital and the linguistic border, a territorial approach was applied as a pacification tool for the Belgian language relations. The political system evolved towards a form of confederalism based on the principle of territorialism combined with a functional form of cultural autonomy in language contact areas. After a short historical introduction, this contribution focuses on the current contact situations and the challenges for an increasing multilingual future.