TheMaddens Doctrine orStrategy refers, inBelgian politics, to a strategy suggested byBart Maddens to achieve progress in thestate reform.
The strategy has been adopted by, among others, theNew Flemish Alliance and theFlemish People's Movement, but also has opponents, including within theAktiekomitee Flemish Social Security, who doubts its effectiveness.
The aim of this strategy is to enforce a positive evolution of the state reform from theFlemish nationalist point of view. Its main idea is that the reform may only achieve progress if both parties, the Flemish and the Francophones look for it. According to Maddens, if the Flemish want a reform, they have to operate in such a way that the Francophones require further devolution from the federal government to the federated entities.
Three options are open in order to reach this objective: