Greens, Commons and Shifting Power Relations in Flanders

More than 25 years ago, at the 1975 meeting of PECSRL in Warsaw, the Belgian scholars Claude and Dussart presented the results of their research on the dries, villages in Inner Flanders (Dussart et al. 1975). At the PECSRL session in 2000, the late R. Knaepen presented the results of his studies done concerning the commons of the Campine area, in the eastern part of Belgium (Knaepen 1994; Knaepen et al. 2002). This topic has remained in focus at several departments of Ghent University (Belgium), and various inventories have been drawn up over time (e.g., Thoen 1987; Vinck 1997; Van Der Haegen 1999). In 2002, an article published by Martina De Moor concentrated attention on the commons in the Campine area and in West Flanders (De Moor 2002).