Flanders likes to call itself inclusive, but according to VUB researcher Randy Haers, that promise doesn’t hold true for everyone. In his piece for De Morgen, he exposes the gap between rhetoric and reality. Haers is a postdoctoral researcher with the Crime & Society Research Group (CRiS) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where he studies how security policy takes shape and how science and practice can work together.
In his opinion piece, Haers dissects the contrast between the ideal of an “inclusive Flanders” and the policies that claim to make it real. What sounds warm and unifying on paper, turns out in practice to be inclusive mainly for those who already stand strong. For those struggling to keep up, Haers argues, the tone is one of distrust, control, and sanctions.
He places this development in a wider social context, referring to the French sociologist Loïc Wacquant, who describes the rise of the “neoliberal penal state” — a society that dismantles its social safety net while expanding its systems of control. In such a system, poverty is no longer met with solidarity, but with suspicion.
Haers recognises the same tendency in Belgian and Flemish policy. In the field of justice, for instance, the number of community service orders and prison sentences is rising not because of more crime, but because of stricter regulation. The same shift is visible in employment and welfare policy, where guidance is increasingly replaced by supervision. Jobseekers face more controls; those seeking support face more conditions.
Distrust as a starting point
Haers points out that this creates a two-speed society. For those at the bottom, distrust rules. For those at the top, the rules remain flexible. Some business owners, for example, can access benefits with a simple declaration of honour, while social housing tenants risk home visits, inspections, or even private detectives sent to check whether they secretly own property abroad.
“Instead of investing in clearing waiting lists, we invest in creating an enemy image”
He sees the proposal to cap social rights as part of the same pattern. While many people entitled to support fail to claim it out of shame or ignorance, the government focuses on control and restriction. The result: those with the least are scrutinised the most.
A two-faced society
Haers warns of a society that remains generous to those at the top — with tax breaks, easy permits, and political favouritism — yet harsh towards those merely trying to get by. Social security and solidarity, once cornerstones of society, are being steadily eroded.
“We are seeing a society emerge where life at the top is comfortable, but the steps upward are being dismantled one by one”
With his opinion piece, Haers invites us to think critically about the direction Flanders is heading. A society that calls itself inclusive, he argues, must also dare to look at those who are being left behind.
Read the full opinion piece on De Morgen (in Dutch): Vlaanderen inclusief? Niet voor iedereen | De Morgen