Belgium and the Netherlands There are various types of political systems in the world. Some countries may be federalist, monarchist or unitary. Countries that are geographically close to each other may have different political systems. Belgium was once a colony of the Netherlands before becoming independent in 1830. Although both countries continue to have a constitutional monarchy, Belgium has a different political system from the Netherlands. Differences in the formal institutions of Belgium and the Netherlands can be found by looking at their political institutions, voting methods, and government composition. Open-list proportional representation is used in Belgium and allows the formation of coalition governments due to the large number of parties. Since voting is compulsory in Belgium, there are 5 options to choose from: invalid vote, alternative choice, vote for the entire list, preference for someone not on the list or selection of someone not on the list. Coalition governments can form because no one can achieve a majority and the parties clash together. In the 2010 elections, the top three leaders were the New Flemish Alliance, the Socialist Party and the Christian Democratic and Flemish Party. Using proportional representation to establish coalition governments can be good because it allows for greater diversity, but at the same time bad because smaller parties will unknowingly promote ideas that are not important to the public. The voting rules of the two countries represent an important difference. Although they are different, both countries use proportional representation which leads to multi-party systems. The legal voting age in the two countries is 18 or older, but Belgium has compulsory voting. Compulsory voting in Belgium states that... half of paper... general cabinets are appointed by the king, while ministers head the government's executive departments. With a hugely divided population, ministers are limited to 15 and split between Dutch-speaking and French-speaking ministers. The government is administered by prime ministers and cabinet ministers. The cabinet reflects the presence of political parties in the House. Although Belgium and the Netherlands are geographically close and Belgium was once a colony of the Netherlands, their internal insights vary. Coalition governments resulting from multi-party systems and the presence of a constitutional monarchy are just some of the characteristics of what each country displays. Countries that are close in certain areas can also be very distant ideologically. Works Cited Rachlis, E. (1963). The Netherlands. New York: New York Time Press.