Slides of the paper that I presented at the Dag van de Sociologie 2017 (Dutch and Flemish Sociology Day), taking place at the VUB (Free University of Brussels). In the paper (joint work with Koen Abts) I question whether positive opinions towards the monarchy relate to more social trust - a relationship that was at the country level established some years ago.

1. Tim Reeskens – Koen Abts
Long Live the King!?

2. 208-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
Who is Who?

3. 308-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
• Royal families remain surprisingly popular
• Albeit in a rather ceremonial role
• Important institute in Comparative Politics
• Monarchy as power-sharing institution
• Monarchy as a binding institute
• Not brought down at the individual level
How are support for the monarchy
and social trust related to each other?
The (Alleged) Power of the King

4. 408-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
• Robert Putnam (1993): Making Democracy Work
• And its critics of the Institution-Centered Approach
• Institutions are able to craft or destroy trust
• Cross-national and longitudinal evidence
• Parliamentary monarchy often neglected
• Not by Christian Bjørnskov (2007):
• Social and political stability
• Common national conscience
• Trust allows the monarchy to be sustained
Back to the Start

5. 508-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
• Perceptions of institutional quality foster social trust
(Sønderskov & Dinesen, 2016)
• Parliamentary monarchies craft social trust
 Positive opinions about monarchy are positively related to social trust
So, the Puzzle

6. 608-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
• Divided by the imaginary language border
• Flanders and Wallonia growing socially and culturally apart
• The role of the monarchy is explicitly articulated
“[A]n over-arching Belgian political and economic elite still exists,
which uses its not inconsiderable, albeit significantly reduced
power to maintain the unity of the country. The still-popular
monarchy plays a key role in this respect.”
(Billiet, Maddens & Fognier, 2006, p. 930)
Belgium as an Ideal Test Case

7. 708-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
• Fielded every federal election
• Representative for Belgium
• Analyzing the 2014 wave
• N = 1,822
• Flanders: 1,136 (62.4 percent)
• Wallonia: 686 (37.6 percent)
Belgian National Election Study

8. 808-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
• “Presently, you cannot be sure who or what you can trust”
• “You cannot be too careful in dealing with other people”
• 1-5, higher values indicate more trust
Dependent Variable: Social Trust

9. 908-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
Variable Factor 1 Factor 2
The King should say more in politics 0.286 0.838
The King is important to the international prestige of our country 0.774 0.193
In a modern democracy like ours, the monarchy is out of date -0.593 -0.205
In his speeches, the King should be able to say what he wants 0.085 0.380
We should be glad that we have a King,
because otherwise Belgium would fall apart
0.659 0.254
The King may not have any political role -0.237 -0.520
Independent Variable: Support for the Monarchy
Cronbach’s alpha: 0.75

10. 1008-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Intercept 2.62*** 1.65*** 0.89***
Flanders dummy 0.34*** 0.31*** 0.20***
Attitudes towards monarchy -0.11*** -0.05* -0.10***
+ Structural control variables X X
+ Ideational control variables X
R2 5.31% 24.31% 30.46%
Analysis on Pooled Data
* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001

11. 1108-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
Flanders Wallonia Pooled
Intercept 0.93*** 1.02*** 0.82***
Flanders dummy 0.32*
Attitudes towards monarchy -0.10** -0.06 -0.06
Interaction -0.04
+ Structural control variables X X X
+ Ideational control variables X X X
R2 27.83% 28.24% 30.49%
Sub-National Analysis
* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001

12. 1208-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
• Great idea (at the country level)
• However, reality at the individual level strikes back
• Monarchy (in Belgium) more polarizing then uniting?
• Link between satisfaction with democracy and support for monarchy
• The former is positively related to trust
• The latter negatively
• Difference between King as institute and as role (?)
To Conclude

13. 1308-06-2017Dag van de Sociologie 2017
t.reeskens@uvt.nl
Thank you!