Everyday regionalism: the story of a not-so-divided region and what we can learn about the perceived legitimacy of federalism

The mixing and matching of institutional strategies has long been analysed to better understand the impact devolution of power can have on the appeasement of conflict. For some, regionalisation is thus seen as a means among others to appease conflict. At the same time, some scholars argue that the devolution of power may exacerbate social conflict. The Belgian Brussels-Capital region is peculiar in this regard. Institutionally recognised as a bilingual region in a linguistically divided federation since 1988, a growing portion of its population appears to affiliate more strongly with the territory as opposed to the institutional primary identifier in Belgium, that is language. Based on 50 in-depth and biographic interviews as well as ethnographic observations (‘shadowing’), this paper studies the emergence of a regional narrative that supersedes the binary optic through which Belgium is often studied. It provides insights into how everyday regionalism structures identity formation and how it influences citizens’ attitudes towards the legitimacy of consociational federalism through the feeling of belonging. Yet, at the same time, it also showcases how the emergence of a Brussels identity provides a means to vehicle political grievances.