Belgian Contemporary/History - see below - Essay Example

Key products that the country exports include diamond, machinery, foodstuffs, chemicals, oil products and metal products. This paper discusses the historical and contemporary factors and forces that threaten to pull Belgium apart as well as those that help keep it together. Just like in the developing countries, one of the historical aspects that affected the unity of Belgium was the conflicts between the Dutch-speakers and French speakers. For a long time, the country has been faced with a challenge as far as the languages are concerned.

For example, in the 20th century, the two linguistic groups did not enjoy the same rights. In the 1830 elections, voting was limited to the French-speaking people an aspect that created animosity between the two groups. The linguistic division that characterizes the country still existed in 1960s when a linguistic border was established. Despite the constitution amendment that took place in 1970, the languages and cultural differences that created challenges for the country did not end. This led to the revision of the country constitution resulting to identification of the Flemish, French and German-speaking as the main communities.

Apart from the linguistic animosity, political difference between the Flemings and the Walloons is still a challenge that threats the unity of the country (Sinardet 16). The political animosity moves around the issue of everyone receiving allocations. As the result of the political rivalry between the two groups, the country suffered a constitutional crisis in 2011 that was due to the disagreement between the two leaders on how to run the country. The country has no national political parties as well as national television and newspaper.

Thus making the public to have limited information on what is happening in the country. With the high level of segregation in the country education system including the universities, the country faces many challenges that jeopardize unity and peaceful coexistence of the citizens. Socially, Belgium has been noted not to value human rights an aspect that has make the country to be faced with a number of challenges. Some of the key aspect that affects the members of the public includes children abusing, violence against women, unfavorable detention conditions and overcrowded prisons among others.

Despite the challenges Belgium is faced with, the country unity is enhanced by the existence of a king who signifies unity. Thus the king is able to bring together the citizens once a political crisis arises. As far as the freedom of judicial system is concerned, the country has coordinated court system thus making justice seeking process easier for the citizens. In order to ensure that the citizens participate in the political development of the country, the government makes voting compulsory.

It is worth to note that Belgium is one of the countries in the world with the highest voter turnout. One of the major aspects that keep the country united is the emulation of the culture of unions. With large number of individuals being members of the trade unions, it makes it easier for their grievances to reach the leaders resulting to reduced number of strikes and enhanced economic development. The trade unions play a vital role in sectors such as education, defense expenditure, public finance, protection of women rights and abortion among others.

Conclusion The political anim