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Reader information and acknowledgments
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– 11 – Reader information and acknowledgments Reader information. This work was written for international and Belgian scholars alike. Opting for such a wide public obviously gives rise to some difficulties. On the one hand, to be accessible to the international scholars, and perhaps the Belgian ones who are not familiar with constitutional law, an introduction to Belgian federalism had to be written. For Belgian scholars of constitutional law, the chapters dealing with the basics (II and III) are arguably somewhat repetitive. On the other hand, this book aspires to be thorough, and make a point that is important in and for Belgian constitutional law as well. It engages Belgian constitutional scholars and it also offers jurisprudential and political considerations as support and nuance of my basic argument. This ‘mixed’ public has implored the construal of a text capable of accommodating ‘mixed’ needs. Here, I have first and foremost attempted to author a coherent text, which at the same time is not devoid of sufficient relevant nuances. Some debates engaged in might be thought to be more tangential to the general point, or of little relevance for non-Belgian constitutionalists. These debates I have consistently tried to either relegate to (some longer) footnotes, or published in grey font in the main corpus. Thus, I might hope that the text can be read as a self-sufficient and coherent whole, and that I have thus succeeded in reconciling the ‘mixed’ needs. Acknowledgments. Many people contributed to the creation of this book in a myriad of ways. Understandably, naming everyone personally would take up too much space. Nonetheless, I am very grateful to my friends, my partner and my parents for offering me general support, without which this book would never have seen the light of day. I owe gratitude to my colleagues, not only for their moral support, but also for suggestions, debate and discussion in an intellectually stimulating environment, in which an appetite for learning and enrichment is ever-present. My PhD supervisor, professor André Alen, who graciously accepted to write the foreword accompanying my work, further provided intellectual stimulation. I am moreover indebted to the co-supervisor of my PhD, emeritus professor René Foqué, who succeeded in always framing authors and thoughts in a broader philosophical perspective, and offering me interesting thoughts for reflections on theory (in its relationship to practice). Without a doubt, the Leuven University Press anonymous reviewer deserves special mention: (s)he pointed out, in the most constructive of ways, some important flaws in the first draft, which I hope I have been able to remedy. Moreover, it is through his/her extremely helpful and poignant suggestions that I can hope that this work can be read coherently. For editorial support, I like Beyond Federal Dogmatics – 12 – to thank Veerle de Laet of Leuven University Press. She has been pragmatically helpful and patient with me. Finally, I am indebted to FWO for allowing me the opportunity to pursue what I am passionate about, that is research: without the financial support of this institution, this book would never have been published. Of course, the usual disclaimers apply: all errors are mine alone, and I gratefully welcome comments at stef.feyen@law.kuleuven.be. Anyone whom I might have forgotten to mention can also contact me at this address. I pre-emptively extend my sincerest apologies to him, her, or them. ...