Belgium

Belgium has taken an average of 170 days to form a government after each election since 2007, with the 2010-2011 formation setting a world record at 541 days — during which the country functioned perfectly well without a federal government. This reveals Belgium's actual governance structure: the real power sits with the three linguistic communities (Flemish, French, Walloon) and their regional governments, not with the federal centre. Belgium's linguistic divide runs so deep that the political system operates as two parallel democracies sharing a capital. Flemish parties compete only in Flanders; Francophone parties compete only in Wallonia and Brussels. No national party exists. The federal government is a coalition of coalitions, requiring agreement across linguistic as well as ideological lines. The economy is highly productive on a per-capita basis, driven by logistics (Antwerp is Europe's second-largest port), chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and EU institutional spending. Belgium functions as a colonial organism whose polyps have diverged into near-separate species while remaining connected by shared infrastructure and a constitutional skeleton.