Pillarisation

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Pillarisation (from the Dutch: verzuiling) is the vertical separation of citizens into groups by religion and associated political beliefs. These societies were (and in some areas, still are) divided into two or more groups known as pillars (Dutch: zuilen). The best-known examples of this have historically occurred in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Each pillar may have its own social institutions and

organisations and sports clubs. Such segregation means that many people have little or no personal contact with members of other pillars.

Netherlands

The Netherlands had at least three pillars, namely

]

The Catholic pillar had the highest degree of organisation because Catholic clergy promoted the organisation of Catholics in confessional institutions. Yet the conservative Protestant pillar and the Socialist pillar, which mainly consisted of

(CHU) (formed in 1908) did not organise a pillar of its own but linked to the Protestant pillar shaped by the ARP.

People who were not associated with one of these pillars, mainly

, and ultra-orthodox Protestant fundamentalists also set up similar organisations; however, such groups were much smaller.

The development of pillarisation in the Netherlands was favoured by the emancipation of working and lower-middle classes on the one hand, and the execution of elite control on the other hand. The emancipation of the working class led to the establishment of socialist parties, trade unions, media, cooperative shops and collectively organised leisure activities. This "full care" of the socialist movement for its members existed similarly in other European countries. The emancipation of the conservative and often strongly religious lower-middle class fostered the emergence of the Protestant pillar. While the Dutch bourgeoisie was rather liberal and adhered to "enlightened" Protestantism, a large part of the lower-middle class embraced a more orthodox Calvinist theology, as taught by preacher and politician Abraham Kuyper.^[2]

In 1866 Kuyper founded the gereformeerd ("reformed") current of Protestantism; it was both more conservative and more popular with ordinary people than the established Protestant churches in the Netherlands. Kuyper's worldview asserted the principle of "sphere sovereignty", rejecting both ecclesiasticism (rule of the Church over all parts of the society) and statist secularism (rule of the state over all parts of the society). He argued that both had their own spheres in which the other was not to interfere. In 1879 he founded the Anti-Revolutionary Party as the political wing of his religious movement and core of the Protestant pillar.

At the same time, new and old elites tried to maintain their control over the newly emancipated social groups. For instance, the Catholic clergy set up confessional unions to prevent Catholic workers from joining socialist unions. One reason behind the formation of Christian parties was to counter the feared rise of left-wing mass parties.^[2]

Institutions by pillar

The following table shows the most important institutions by pillar:

	Protestant	Catholic	Socialist	Liberal
Political party before 1945	ARP (from 1879; gereformeerd) CHU (from 1908; hervormd) SGP (from 1918; bevindelijk gereformeerd)	AB (1904–1926) RKSP (1926–1945)	SDAP (from 1894)	Freethinking ) left-wing Freethinking) BVL (1906–1921; old Freethinking) right-wing Freethinking)
Political parties after 1945	ARP (until 1977) CHU (until 1977) CDA (from 1977; oecumenisch) GPV (1948–2001; gereformeerd-vrijgemaakt) RPF (1975–2001; orthodox Protestant) CU (from 2001; orthodox Protestant) SGP	KVP (until 1977) CDA (from 1977; ecumenical)	PvdA (from 1945)	PvdV (1946–1948; Liberal-conservative Freethinking) VVD (from 1948; Liberal-conservative Freethinking) Liberal Freethinking)
Broadcasting organisation	NCRV (Dutch Christian Radio Association) EO (Evangelical Broadcasting)	KRO (Catholic Radio Broadcasting Organisation) RKK Omroep (Roman Catholic Communion Broadcasting)	VARA (Association of Workers' Radio Amateurs) O-LLiNK (Left Broadcasting)	AVRO (General United Radio Broadcasting Organisation) VPRO (Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcasting) VRON (Free Radio Broadcasting Netherlands) TROS (Television & Radio Broadcasting Organisation) HOS (Humanist Broadcasting Foundation) POWNED (Well-Thinking Netherlands And Such Public Broadcasting) O-WNL (Awakened Netherlands Broadcasting)
Unions	CNV (Christian National Union) (from 1909) NWV Patrimonium [nl] (gereformeerd) (from 1876)	NKV (Dutch Catholic Union) (1925–1976) FNV (from 1976)	NVV (Dutch Alliance of Unions) (1906–1976) FNV (from 1976)
Employers	PCW	NKW	none	VNO
Newspapers	De Standaard (gereformeerd) Friesch Dagblad (Fryslân gereformeerd) Trouw (gereformeerd) Nederlands Dagblad (vrijgemaakt) Reformatorisch Dagblad (gereformeerd)	De Tijd (1845–1974) De Volkskrant (since 1919)	Het Vrije Volk Het Parool	Public journal ) Algemeen Handelsblad (until 1970) Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant (until 1970) NRC Handelsblad (from 1970) De Telegraaf
Schools	"School with bible" (Protestant oriented school), Protestant Education	Roman Catholic School	Free Schools, Public Schools	Public Schools
Universities	Protestantse Theologische Universiteit (hervormd) Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (gereformeerd) Theological University of the Christian Reformed Churches (bevindelijk gereformeerd) Theologische Universiteit (vrijgemaakt)	Radboud Universiteit Katholieke Universiteit Brabant	State-sponsored universities Universiteit voor Humanistiek Nyenrode Business Universiteit
Hospitals	Green/Orange Cross	White/Yellow Cross	Green Cross
Sport clubs	NCSU NSA TvA	NKS NSA	NASB NRS NCS NSA	NOC*NSF
Recreation (examples)	Saturday football, weekend rugby union	Sunday football	Dancing schools, Sunday football, korfball	Folk dancing, weekend rugby union, field hockey , weekend football

Depillarisation

After

, a progressive party, which was open to all people. The new party did not, however, gain enough support under Catholics or Reformed, and the PvdA became encapsulated in the socialist pillar.

Television broadcasting was also pillarised, but everyone watched the same broadcasts nonetheless, since initially only one channel was available in the Netherlands in the 1950s. During the 1960s the pillars largely broke down, particularly under political criticism from

, and young people did not want to be associated with these organisations anymore.

In 1973, two main Protestant parties, ARP and CHU, merged with the Catholic KVP to form the

(FNV) in 1982.

The pillarisation of society has not fully disappeared, and many remnants can still be seen in the 21st century:

are also using the legal possibilities created for the pillarised structure of society, by setting up their own schools.

Belgium

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Apart from having no Protestant pillar, pillarisation in Belgium was very similar to that in Netherlands. There was also no "general" pillar, but a politically well-organised liberal pillar. In 1911, the British sociologist Seebohm Rowntree noted that in Belgium:

There is extraordinarily little social intercourse between Catholics and Liberals, and practically none between Catholics and Socialists. Politics enter into almost every phase of social activity and philanthropic effort, and it is the exception rather than the rule for persons holding different political opinions to co-operate in any other matter. Thus in one town there will be a Catholic, a Liberal and a Socialist trade union, a Catholic, a Liberal and a Socialist thrift society, each catering for similar people, but each confining its attentions to members of its own political party. The separation extends to cafes, gymnasia, choral, temperance, and literary societies; indeed it cuts through life!^[3]

In both Flanders and Wallonia, societies were pillarised between Catholic and Liberal political denominations which were subsequently joined by a Socialist pillar. Even though the liberals were stronger in Belgium (particularly in Brussels) than in the Netherlands, they were still relatively weak, owing to their rather small, bourgeois support: liberal trade unions were very small. De Tijd, a financial daily, is the newspaper aligned with the liberals, as its readership consists mainly of liberal supporters. However, a Flemish newspaper with historical liberal roots, Het Laatste Nieuws, also exists.^{[citation needed]}

Denominational (many Catholic and a few Jewish) schools receive some public money, although not parity of funding as in the Netherlands, so that tuition is almost completely free. Belgian universities charge more or less the same, relatively low, tuition fees.

As a consequence of the

) did not attempt to build pillars.

Pillarisation was visible even in everyday social organisations such as musical ensembles, sport clubs, recreational facilities, etc. Weakened in the current situation, many major social organisations (trade unions, cooperatives, etc.) still strictly follow the lines of pillars though.

Institutions by pillar with their ethnic divisions

The following table is limited to the most important institutions and it shows the current division of everyone by the three ethnic groups.

	Catholic	Walloon Catholic	German Catholic	Flemish Socialist	Walloon Socialist	German Socialist	Flemish Liberal	Walloon Liberal	German Liberal
Political parties before 1945	Catholic Party (until 1936) Catholic Bloc (since 1936)			Belgian Labour Party (BWP/POB)			Liberal Party
	Catholic Flemish People's Party (since 1936)	Social Catholic Party (since 1936)	{{{1}}}
Political parties between 1945 and 1970	Christian Social Party (CVP/PSC)			Belgian Socialist Party (BSP/PSB)			Liberal Party (until 1961) Party for Freedom and Progress (PVV/PLP/PFF) (since 1961)
Political parties after 1970	CVP (until 2001) CD&V (since 2001) minor VCP (2007–2014) NCD (2012)	PSC (until 2002) CDH (2002-2022) Les Engagés (since 2022) minor MCC (since 1998) CDF (2002–2012)	CSP minor PDB (until 2008) ProDG (since 2008)	SP (until 2001) SP.A (2001 - 2021) Forward (since 2021)	PS	SP	PVV (until 1992) VLD (1992–2007) Open VLD (since 2007)	PRL (since 2002 part of MR) MR (since 2002)	PFF
Trade unions	Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (ACV/CSC)			General Federation of Belgian Labour (ABVV/FGTB)			General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (ACLVB/CGSLB)
	Boerenbond
Health insurance	Christelijke Mutualiteit	Mutualité chrétienne	Christliche Krankenkasse	Socialistische Mutualiteit	Mutualité socialiste	Sozialistische Krankenkasse	Liberale Mutualiteit	Mutualité Libérale	Freie Krankenkasse
Hospitals	White/Yellow Cross	Christian Fund	Christian Fund	(Center for) Homecare	Socialist Fund	Socialist Fund	Solidarity for the Family	Liberal Fund	Liberal Fund
Aid agencies	Caritas Vlaanderen	Caritas en Belgique francophone et germanophone	Caritas en Belgique Francophone-Deutschsprachiges Belgien	FOS-Socialistische Solidariteit	Solidarité Socialiste-FCD	Solidariteit-FCD	none	none	none
Newspapers	De Standaard Gazet van Antwerpen Het Volk Het Belang van Limburg Het Nieuwsblad	La Libre Belgique	Grenz-Echo	Vooruit [nl] (until 1978) Volksgazet [nl] (until 1978) De Morgen (since 1978)	none	none	Het Laatste Nieuws De Tijd	Le Soir	none
Cultural associations	Davidsfonds	none	none	Vermeylenfonds	none	none	Willemsfonds	none	none
Schools	Flemish Secretariat for Catholic Education (Catholic Schools), Flemish Association of Catholic Colleges	Catholic schools	Public schools	Public schools	Public schools	Public schools, non-denominational private schools	Public schools, non-denominational private schools	Public schools, non-denominational private schools
Major universities	Katholieke Universiteit Leuven	Université catholique de Louvain	none	Ghent University	University of Liège	none	Vrije Universiteit Brussel	Université libre de Bruxelles	none
Other universities	University of Antwerp Industriële Hogeschool Brabant Hogeschool-Universiteit Vlaams Verbond van Katholieke Hogescholen Vesalius College Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp	Université de Namur Facultés Universitaires Catholiques de Mons Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis	none	Trans-Universiteit Limburg	Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux	none	Erasmus Hogeschool	Université de Mons	none
Youth organisations	KVHV JONGCD&V Katholische Academische Verbindung Leuven SGV Chiro KSJ-KSA-VKSJ [nl] KLJ [nl] KAJ	FSC GCB Jeunes cdH	Die Junge Mitte FSC GCB	Rode Valken [nl] Animo Jong Links	MJS	MJS	FOS VLD JONG	SGP Les Jeunes Réformateurs	JFF SGP MJS
Banks	Volksdepositokas Spaarbank	Dexia	none	Bank van De Post	Banque de La Poste	Bank von der Post	Generale Bankmaatschappij	Générale de Banque	Generale Bank
Sport clubs	Sporta [nl] Gym & Dans Vlaanderen	none	none	AVB (1919–2000) FROS (1976–2000) VASCO (1993–2000) FROS Amateursportconfederatie vzw (since 2000)	none	none	none	none	none

Proporz in Austria

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The Austrian version of Verzuiling is the long-standing Proporz doctrine (a

, both names with the acronym of SPÖ).

This de facto two-party system collapsed with the

individualist

views.

The Proporz system arose out of the need for balanced, consensual governance in the early years of Austria's second republic. At that time, the country was consumed in an effort to rebuild the country after the devastation of World War II. Thus, the doctrine of Proporz is intimately linked to the idea of the grand coalition, in which the major political parties, in the case of post-war Austria the SPÖ and the ÖVP, share in the government.

Like in the Netherlands or in Belgium the main parties have partly to this day, "black" and "red" parallel organizations, e.g. B. at touring clubs (ÖAMTC vs. ARBÖ), factions inside the Austrian Trade Union Federation (FCG vs. FSG vs. Freiheitlichen Arbeitnehmer (FPÖ)) or sports associations (Sportunion vs. ASKÖ).

Italy

A similar phenomena existed during the

.

There are multiple trade unions:

(PSDI).

The state-owned

to PCI.

Northern Ireland

The term "pillarisation" has also been used to describe segregation of the two main ethnoreligious groups in

People	Protestants	Catholics
National identity[8]	"British", "Northern Irish" or "Ulster"	"Irish" or "Northern Irish"
Religions	Church of Ireland Presbyterianism Methodism	Roman Catholicism
Political persuasions	Unionism Loyalism Ulster nationalism Protestant Irish nationalism	Irish nationalism Irish republicanism Irish republican socialism Dissident republican
Political parties	Democratic Unionist Party Ulster Unionist Party Traditional Unionist Voice Progressive Unionist Party	Sinn Féin Social Democratic and Labour Party Workers' Party Aontú Irish Republican Socialist Party Nationalist Party (before 1977)
Fraternal organisations	Apprentice Boys of Derry Orange Order Independent Orange Order Royal Arch Purple Royal Black Institution Grand Lodge of Ireland	Ancient Order of Hibernians Knights of Saint Columbanus
Unions	Ulster Workers' Council	Irish Congress of Trade Unions
Languages	English, Ulster Scots British Sign Language, Northern Ireland Sign Language	English and Irish Irish Sign Language, Northern Ireland Sign Language
Schools[10]	Protestant schools, state schools	Catholic schools[11]
Universities[12]	Queen's University of Belfast Magee College Ulster University Stranmillis University College Universities in Great Britain	Ulster University St Mary's University College, Belfast Universities in the Republic of Ireland
Sports[13][14]	Soccer (most clubs)	Soccer (Cliftonville, Derry City; Belfast Celtic until 1949)
Banks[15]	Ulster Bank Belfast Banking Company (to 1970) Northern Bank (to 2012)[16][17]	Hibernian Bank (to 1958)
Newspapers	Belfast Telegraph News Letter[18] Sunday Life Northern Whig (until 1963) Protestant Telegraph (1966–82)	The Irish News[19] An Phoblacht Lá (1984–2008)
TV and radio[20]	UTV BBC Radio Ulster Pirate radio : Voice of Ulster, Radio Orange, Radio Shankill, Radio Sundown, Radio Free Ulster	RTÉ (Republic of Ireland state broadcaster) Pirate radio: Radio Free Belfast, Radio Free Derry

Especially since the

.

See also

• Balkanization
• Consociationalism
• Identity politics
• Millet (Ottoman Empire)
• Sectarianism
• Social environment
• Sui iuris
• Test Act
• Political particularism

References

Further reading

• Deschouwer, Kris (2001), "Freezing pillars and frozen cleavages: Party systems and voting alignments in consociational democracies", Party Systems and Voter Alignments Revisited, Routledge, pp. 205–221
• Lijphart, Arend (1968), Verzuiling, pacificatie en kentering in de Nederlandse politiek (Pillarization, pacification and change in Dutch politics) (in Dutch), Amsterdam: De Bussy, retrieved 19 May 2023. Classical study on pillarisation in the Netherlands.
• Post, Harry (1989), Pillarization: An Analysis of Dutch and Belgian Society, Avebury
• van Schendelen, M. P. C. M. (1984), Consociationalism, pillarization and conflict-management in the Low Countries, Boom
• Christophe de Voogd: "Histoire des Pays-Bas des origines à nos jours", Fayard, Paris, 2004