Belgium has historically been divided along linguistic lines, with Dutch speakers primarily in Flanders and French speakers primarily in Wallonia. This led to tensions over political power sharing. Belgium reformed its constitution four times between 1970-1993 to become a federal state with power sharing between the language communities. The constitution now mandates equal representation of Dutch and French ministers, requires some laws to have majority support from both communities, and devolves some central powers to regional governments. These reforms brought peaceful accommodation between the Dutch and French communities in Belgium.