Weathering the crisis: Evidence of diffuse support for the EU from a six-wave Dutch panel

Political regimes draw legitimacy from diffuse political support. How diffuse is support for the European Union? By focusing on cross-sectional data, the extant literature fails to demonstrate that support for the European Union displays the key defining characteristic of diffuse support: individual-level stability over a time of crisis. I use a six-wave panel data set from the Netherlands to study stability in support for the European Parliament during the 2008 economic crisis. I argue that public support for the European Parliament is highly diffuse. Using three analytical techniques, I find that individual-level support for the European Parliament remained highly stable from 2007 to 2012. These results suggest that in times of crisis, the European Union can draw on mass public support as a source of resilience

20 anys de Catalunya a la Unió Europea

Aquest llibre aprofita la efemèride del vintè aniversari de la integració de Catalunya a la UE per analitzar l'impacte de les principals polítiques europees i la seva influència en l'evolució de les polítiques a nivell catalàEste libro aprovecha la efeméride del vigésimo aniversario de la integración de Cataluña en la UE para analizar el impacto de las principales políticas europeas y su influencia en la evolución de las políticas a nivel catalá

Government-Opposition Dynamics in Spain under the Pressure of Economic Collapse and the Debt Crisis

Government - opposition relations in Spain have been long characterised by a high level of consensus and cooperation. The question analysed here is whether the economic crisis initiated in 2008 has created unprecedented levels of conflict in the political system or whether opposition parties have maintained a cooperative strategy oriented to influence far-reaching policy decisions. Results illustrate that patterns of consensus have decreased significantly since the outbreak of the crisis, and this is partly explained by the rising amount of legislation with socio-economic content, variations in the government's popularity, and the type of government. The analysis also shows that the crisis has increased the incentives of opposition parliamentary groups to oppose European Union legislation, especially among left parties

Multilingualism and the Brexit referendum

This chapter argues that the (lack of) foreign language skills has contributed to the outcome of the Brexit referendum. Theory suggests that speaking foreign languages reduces perceptions of cultural distance and contributes to the formation of transnational identities. Research also shows a link between language skills and European identity (Kuhn 2015; Díez Medrano 2018). Did Britons’ relative lack of foreign language skills play a role in the Brexit decision? Using matching methods and data from the referendum wave of the British Election Study, it is possible to estimate the effect of foreign language skills on the referendum vote. The results suggest that a significant effect of foreign language skills remains, even when taking into account education, age, gender, income, and region, party preference, and personality differences

España en Europa - Europa en España (1986-2006)

Aquesta publicació té per objectiu oferir un balanç dels primers vint anys des de l'adhesió d'Espanya a l'Europa comunitària en termes de «europeïtzació», una formulació que és objecte de creixent atenció per part dels estudiosos del procés d'integració europea. Per això s'analitzen tant la incidència d'Espanya a la Unió Europea com la d'aquesta en el sistema institucional, els processos polítics i les polítiques públiques espanyoles. El resultat reflecteix el grau creixent de simbiosi que, amb alguns matisos, s'ha anat generant entre ambdós nivells al llarg d'aquests anys.La presente publicación tiene por objetivo ofrecer un balance de los primeros veinte años desde la adhesión de España a la Europa comunitaria en términos de «europeización», una formulación que es objeto de creciente atención por parte de los estudiosos del proceso de integración europea. Para ello se analizan tanto la incidencia de España en la Unión Europea como la de ésta en el sistema institucional, los procesos políticos y las políticas públicas españolas. El resultado refleja el grado creciente de simbiosis que, con algunos matices, se ha ido generando entre ambos niveles a lo largo de estos años

Cut-offs and response criteria for the Hospital Universitario la Princesa Index (HUPI) and their comparison to widely-used indices of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis

Objective To estimate cut-off points and to establish response criteria for the Hospital Universitario La Princesa Index (HUPI) in patients with chronic polyarthritis. Methods Two cohorts, one of early arthritis (Princesa Early Arthritis Register Longitudinal PEARL] study) and other of long-term rheumatoid arthritis (Estudio de la Morbilidad y Expresión Clínica de la Artritis Reumatoide EMECAR]) including altogether 1200 patients were used to determine cut-off values for remission, and for low, moderate and high activity through receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis. The areas under ROC (AUC) were compared to those of validated indexes (SDAI, CDAI, DAS28). ROC analysis was also applied to establish minimal and relevant clinical improvement for HUPI. Results The best cut-off points for HUPI are 2, 5 and 9, classifying RA activity as remission if =2, low disease activity if >2 and =5), moderate if >5 and <9 and high if =9. HUPI''s AUC to discriminate between low-moderate activity was 0.909 and between moderate-high activity 0.887. DAS28''s AUCs were 0.887 and 0.846, respectively; both indices had higher accuracy than SDAI (AUCs: 0.832 and 0.756) and CDAI (AUCs: 0.789 and 0.728). HUPI discriminates remission better than DAS28-ESR in early arthritis, but similarly to SDAI. The HUPI cut-off for minimal clinical improvement was established at 2 and for relevant clinical improvement at 4. Response criteria were established based on these cut-off values. Conclusions The cut-offs proposed for HUPI perform adequately in patients with either early or long term arthritis