Pillarisation (a calque from the Dutch: verzuiling [vɛrˈzœylɪŋ] ⓘ) is the vertical separation of citizens into groups by religion and associated political beliefs.
Pillarisation was originally initiated by Abraham Kuyper and his Christian Democratic and neo-Calvinist (gereformeerd) Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) in the late 19th century; it was part of its philosophy of sphere sovereignty.
The emancipation of the working class led to the establishment of socialist parties, trade unions, media, cooperative shops and collectively organised leisure activities.
While the Dutch bourgeoisie was rather liberal and adhered to "enlightened" Protestantism, a large part of the lower-middle class embraced a more orthodox Calvinist theology, as taught by preacher and politician Abraham Kuyper.
[2] In 1866 Kuyper founded the gereformeerd ("reformed") current of Protestantism; it was both more conservative and more popular with ordinary people than the established Protestant churches in the Netherlands.
Progressives of all pillars (including the Catholic resistance movement Christofoor) were united in the aim to renew the political system (doorbraak, "breakthrough").
During the 1960s the pillars largely broke down, particularly under political criticism from D66 and the group Nieuw Links [nl] (New Left) in PvdA.
In 1973, two main Protestant parties, ARP and CHU, merged with the Catholic KVP to form the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
Members of the Reformed Churches (liberated) have their own (primary and secondary) schools, their own national newspaper, and some other organisations, such as a labour union.
Increasingly, Muslim immigrants in the Netherlands are also using the legal possibilities created for the pillarised structure of society, by setting up their own schools.
[3]In both Flanders and Wallonia, societies were pillarised between Catholic and Liberal political denominations which were subsequently joined by a Socialist pillar.
[citation needed] Denominational (many Catholic and a few Jewish) schools receive some public money, although not parity of funding as in the Netherlands, so that tuition is almost completely free.
Only near the end of the Cold War did it begin to lose importance, at least at the individual level, and to this day it continues to influence Belgian society.
Pillarisation was visible even in everyday social organisations such as musical ensembles, sport clubs, recreational facilities, etc.
This de facto two-party system collapsed with the elections of 1999, which resulted in the joining of the national-conservative Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), whose political marginalisation and that of its predecessor, the Federation of Independents (VdU), was the main reason for the establishment of the Proporz policy, because of their pro-German, far right and individualist views.
Thus, the doctrine of Proporz is intimately linked to the idea of the grand coalition, in which the major political parties, in the case of post-war Austria the SPÖ and the ÖVP, share in the government.
Like in the Netherlands or in Belgium the main parties have partly to this day, "black" and "red" parallel organizations, e.g. B. at touring clubs (ÖAMTC vs. ARBÖ), factions inside the Austrian Trade Union Federation (FCG vs. FSG vs. Freiheitlichen Arbeitnehmer (FPÖ)) or sports associations (Sportunion vs. ASKÖ).