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Main article: Politics of Belgium
Belgium's political institutions are complex, but the majority of political power is organised with the two main communities: the Flemings, and their political parties; and the French-speakers, and their parties.
Since the country's federalisation there have been many governmental entities; apart from the Federal Government there is a subdivision according to language into Communities, with the French(-speaking) Community, the Flemish Community and the German-speaking Community, and another subdivision into Regions: the Walloon Region, the Flemish Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. The Flemish Community and the Flemish Region have been joined together to form one government, see Flanders.
Behind these complex institutions, one notes the two dominant components of the Belgian state: the Flemings and their political institutions under the Flemish government; and the French-speakers, grouped under the French(-speaking) Community and its more fragmented institutions. All political parties in Belgium belong to one of these two communities, except for a German-speaking party and some smaller parties in Brussels. However, these only attract votes from one of the two communities in Brussels. Thus, there are no national parties active over all the Belgian territory. In short, the Belgian political landscape carefully mirrors the dual nature of Belgian society.
Thus:
For example, a school building in Brussels belonging to the public school system would be regulated by the regional government of Brussels. The school as an institution however would fall under the regulations of either the Flemish government, if the primary language of teaching is Dutch, or the French Community government, if the primary language is French. It is a complex, somewhat unstable and expensive, but peaceful compromise that allows distinctly different cultures to live together.
Main article: Communities, regions and provinces of Belgium
Belgium is divided into three communities, the Flemish community, the French-speaking community and the German-speaking community, and in three regions: Brussels (mainly Dutch- and French-speaking, with a population of 980,000), Flanders (mainly Dutch-speaking, with a population of 6,000,000), and Wallonia (mainly French-speaking, with a population of 3,360,000). The later two regions are each divided into 5 provinces. thumbnail Belgium is composed of the 5 northern Dutch-speaking provinces of Flanders, the 5 southern French-speaking provinces of Wallonia and the Capital Region of Brussels.
Between brackets is the local name of each province, in either French or Dutch:
Each provincial entity (including the Brussels-Capital Region) is further divided into smaller municipalities, called gemeenten in Dutch and communes in French (see List of Belgian municipalities and List of Belgian municipalities by population).
The main cities and their population are Brussels (959,318), Antwerp (445,570), Ghent (224,685), Charleroi (200,233), and Liège (184,550).
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