Much of the time the center-periphery involves ethnicity or language, as it does in Belgium. .
Belgium is a prime example of how these ethnic or language divisions can effect a government. Within the small country there are three different nationalities: French, Dutch, and German. To complicate matters there are two discrete cultures: French and Flemish. There are three territories in the country: Walloon, Flanders, and Brussels. For the most part the Flemish people of Belgium are found in Flanders, while the French speakers are in Wallonia and a mix of both in Brussels. This division becomes even more interesting when the boundaries of ethnic background transcends into religious identification. Most French people are overwhelmingly Catholics while people of Dutch or German descendants are mostly Protestants. The political parties in Belgium are the embodiment of these religious and linguistic divides. The Christian-Democratic Party are the primarily the representatives of the Catholic people within the state. For the non-Catholics there are two parties: the Socialist Party and the Liberal Party. This split of political representatives within a single group points out that there can be cleavages within certain groups. The Socialists are usually of the poorer non-catholic background while the Liberals are connected with the wealthier class. These many partitions have produced an extreme multiparty system; in recent years there have been many different parties that have emerged on the basis of representing people on the ethnic divisions and today there are about twelve total parties. On the national level this multiparty system calls for cooperation between the parties in the form of broad coalitions. This was done by design to help relieve the many different voices that need to be heard. .
To deal with the many different cleavages the government is set up to be a consensus democracy.
