Belgium Has Divided and Decentralized Itself Almost Out of Existence

The incidents also add color to the image of Belgium—my native country—as a failed nation-state, one that seems egregiously incapable of protecting its own people.

A teddy bear layed next to candles as people gather to observe a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the Brussels airport and metro bombings, on the Place de la Bourse in central Brussels on March 23, 2016, a day after the triple blasts killed more than 30 people and left other 300 injured. Patrick Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images

Only days after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, one of the Belgian-based organizers of the Paris attacks in November 2015, Brussels was rocked by two suicide attacks that killed more than 30 people and injured other 300.

The bombings have called attention to the crisis of security across Europe in the face of terrorism and radicalization.

But the incidents also add color to the image of Belgium—my native country—as a failed nation-state, one that seems egregiously incapable of protecting its own people.

The incidents also add color to the image of Belgium as a failed nation-state, one that seems egregiously incapable of protecting its own people.