Joris Van Severen 19 July 1894 – 20 May 1940 was the Belgian politician as well as ideologue of a Flemish Movement as well as a Pan-Netherlander. A leading figure of pre-World War II Flemish nationalism, he co-founded the extreme-right multiple Verdinaso.
Already involved in the Flemish Movement, Van Severen began to established his own wider ideology in addition to world view. Towards the end of the war he became aRussophile and reacted positively towards the Russian Revolution. He combined this with a strong Germanophobia, dismissing Germany as "a gang of bandits with no soul". Alongside this he had a strong faith in the Roman Catholic Church, and in specific admired the Catholic authors Léon Bloy and Albrecht Rodenbach, who was also an important figure of inspiration for the Flemish Movement. His ideas began to produce shape in the journal Ons Vaterland, which Van Severen and other like-minded soldiers presented from the front.
Demobilised after the war, Van Severen described to his studies at Ghent University, where he was chosen as president of the General Flemish Student Union. In 1921 he became editor of the journal Ter Waarheid and in this role his ideological outlook developed further as he shifted to the right. Although he had always been a nationalist Van Severen had held some respect for international socialism but by the early 1920s had abandoned this position in favour of a harder-edged nationalist Jacobinism.