Curriculum Vitae

 Personalia:

Brecht Arnaert

Burggravenlaan 137

9000 GENT

brechtarnaert@gmail.com

Mobile: 0032 498 80 98 92

Born in Ypres on the 5th of September 1981

Studies:

2009: Master in Public Management – University of Ghent

2005: Bachelor Social Assistant – option policy lobbying – University College of Ghent

2003: History (first year) - University of Ghent

2002: Bachelor Primary Schoolteacher – University College of Ghent

Professional experience

•  6 jan 2006 – 14 sept 2007: coördinator of the non-profit organisation "The Switch"

  14 sept 2009 – present: political advisor on Foreign Affairs and Institutional Matters at the Belgian Federal House of Representatives.

Political experience:

•* President of N-VA Youth at Ghent University (2008-2009)

* Vice-President of N-VA District of Ypres (2008 – present)

* Vice-President of N-VA Youth West-Flanders (2008 – dec 2009)

* President of N-VA Youth West-Flanders (dec 2009 – present)

* Member of the Technical Group Brussels in the Party Council (2008)

* Board member of de Mises Youth Club (2009 – present)

* Candidate for the 2010 Federal Elections, gaining 6930 personal votes from a sixth place on the election list in West-Flanders

Thematical experience

* Co-author of the book “The Flemish Republic”, published at Van Haelewijck, 2009

* Guest author for patriotic Flemish periodicals: Doorbraak, Meervoud, Neo, several op-eds in leading

Flemish newspapers

* Publicist at inflandersfields.eu, nieuwpierke.be, blogger at smithsonsplace.eu

* Selected after essaycontest by the Institute for Humane studies as participant in a seminar on “The moral foundations of capitalism” (2009) (primarily monetary politics)

* Selected after essaycontest by Clemson University, SC, as participant in a seminar on “The work and life of Ayn Rand” (2010) (primerily moral philosophy and economical ethics)

Some relevant op-eds, essays and research articles

Institutions, state reforms and Brussels:

•* Belgium, a federal state? – toughts on the “unionist federalism” of Wilfried Martens (April 2007)

* Di Rupo premier. A democratic plea against the "cordon sanitaire" around the Flemish

Block – institutional consequences proceeding from the exclusion of Flanders biggest party. (April 2007, blog)

* Manual for a relaxed talk about BHV – the BHV-dossier, explained in human language (May 2007, blog)

* Brussels, part of the solution? – essay on the position of Brussels in the future Flemish Republic (Jan 2008)

* Long live the Walloon Community – on the assymetric Belgian institutional structure (June 2008, Nieuw Pierke)

* The “intrest” of “law” – on the alledged violation of the rights of the francophones in the Brussels periphery (March 2009, blog)

* The impossibility of the Crols-option – transcription of a lecture, defending the preservation of Brussels as an integral part of the Flemish Republic in the event of Flemish Seccesion (delivered at the Social Flemish-pattriotic Diet, 26 Sept 2009)

Culture, nation, identity:

•* The walls of Jericho – on the recuperation of the Flemish elite by the King Baldwin Foundation (Dec 2008, blog)

* 2080, the year of the lion? – on the parallels between the democratisation of Belgium and the emergence of the Flemish Movement. (Juli 2009, published in “The Flemish Republic” - book)

* Why the "Sleepstraat" is not a ghetto – op-ed about cultural identity and street rioting in Brussels (Oct 2009, Meervoud)

* A cat, a room and a hijab – op-ed about the prohibition on headscarfs in Flemish Public Education, and a reflection on the concept “public culture” (Sept 2009, blog)

* Why the Flemish Lion is not proud at all – transcription of a lecture, delivered for the Joint Flemish-pattriotic Associations, at Ypres, on the Flemish National Holiday, 11 juli 2010 (blog, juli 2010)

Miscellaneous:

* Solidarity – on the essential features of the concept (Oct 2007, blog)

* A house for everybody! Nobody gets a house. – on the nature and causes of the housing crisis in the US (Jan 2009, published in Meervoud)

* Money is cheese – on the monetary politics of Obama (Feb 2009, application essay for IHS)

* Bold calculations about the end of Belgium – op-ed as a reaction on a phony “study” about the cost of the Flemish secession by the demagogue that goes by the name of Rudy Arnout (sept 2008, Flemish Daily: De Standaard)

* Restructuring the economy, a manual. – an overview on the most popular economic theories 

Current (november 2010) projects

* Belgium For Dummies – a book on the Belgian Kingdom and the Flemish Cause

* The responsibility of philosophers. Why so many people commit suicide – investigation into the causes of the extremely high number of suicides in Flanders

* The I-word. Inflation explained – an essay on the etymology of the word inflation, its causes and its cures)

Further intrests

* The life and work of Ayn Rand, especially her refutation of Kantian metaphysics, her objectivist stances on epistemology, and her rational foundation of ethics

* Austrian economy, especially the work of Carl Menger on the a priori legitimization of the Austrian perspective.

* The combination of the latter two.