A DEMOCRACY in ACTION ·, Belgian Government and Administration
A DEMOCRACY IN ACTION ·, Belgian Government and Administration by NICO GUNZBURG PUBUSHED BY THB · BELGIAN GOVERNMENT INFORMATION CENTER 630 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YoRK 1945 Art, Life a11d Science in Bdgium III Already published in ihis series: I. BELGIAN MUSIC, by Charles ~L~irens 2. BELGIAN COLONIAL. POLICY, by Albert de Vleeschauwer The drawing on the cover and on the front page represents a soldier of the XIVth century Ghent militia. The author, NICO GUNZBURG, is a member of the Antwerp Bar, professor at the State University of Ghent and dean of the lAw Faculty. He has published a num ber of books on juridical topics in several languages. A DEMOCRACY IN ACTION WICE in a quarter of a century, Germany has deliberately Tviolated the neutrality of Belgium, in spite of repeated pledges to defend her independence. And twice in a quarter of a century, the Belgian people have been tortured and exposed to the cruelest exploitation by the Teutonic soldiery, backed up by a plundering and looting civil administration. The people of Belgium have kept faith with the principles of freedom and democracy as outlined in their Constitution of 1231 -a constitution which, after more than a hundred years, still remains one of the most liberal in the world. I. A Freedom-Loving People The first acts of the Provisional Government of 1830 were the appointment of a commission to draft a Constitution and the con vocation of a National Congress of elected representatives. Less than three months later, the 139 articles of the Constitution, estab lishing a parliamentary monarchy and proclaiming new freedoms for the people, were adopted by the Congress; its remarkably pro gressive character reflected the influence of the American Declara tion of Independence, the French Declaration of Rights of Men and Citizens, British and French philosophy of the late eighteenth cen tury, and finally, the "Joyous Entry"* and the municipal charters of the Belgian "communes," which the earlier conquerors of the country had been forced to adhere to by an unrelenting citizenry.
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