National narratives, i.e., the stories, myths and frames that construct a nation's self-understanding, have long been identified as crucial concept to understand the emergence and maintenance of a polity. With the growing pressure of regionalisation, the salience and success of national narratives extend beyond nation-building. Subnational communities may contest the central national narrative through the use of counternarratives calling for more political autonomy or the overhaul of institutional design. The paper observes the evolution of subnational narratives in the Belgian Brussels-Capital Region (BCR). The BCR had originally been envisioned as a non-aligned zone, situated at the crossroad between Belgium's French- and Dutch-speaking community. Given its bilingual character, its identity has been viewed as 'double-faced' - a perspective that aligns with its bilingual institutional framework, which ensure the representation of both Dutch- and French-speakers. Yet, the socio-demographic and linguistic landscape of Brussels has evolved significantly. We argue that these changes have challenged the pre-eminence of the narrative of the BCR as a 'synthesis of Belgium's two primary linguistic communities'. Drawing on thirty in-depth interviews with Members of the Brussels Regional Parliament this study examines how these elites conceptualise the region's identity. Specifically, it asks: How is it discursively constructed by political elites? Which features are emphasised or de-emphasised? Which political demands/institutional preferences arise from their narration? In doing so, the paper shows that the identity of the BCR is increasingly narrated around inclusive multiculturality and multilingualism. This evolving narrative challenges the continued legitimacy of the region’s binary institutional structure and reflects an emerging "self-confidence" regarding Brussels’ distinct role within the Belgian federal system.
Rondiat et al. (Wed,) studied this question.