Looks Can Be Deceiving: Explaining Euroscepticism in Central and East Europe

In this dissertation I ask: What accounts for the emergence and electoral performance of Eurosceptic political parties in the domestic party systems of Central and East Europe (CEE)? Related to this question, I explore how the determinants of electoral Euroscepticism differ from those of genuine, value-based Euroscepticism in CEE. In explaining what drives political parties to adopt a Eurosceptic agenda, two potential causal factors can be identified. Eurosceptic parties can try to capture genuine anti-EU sentiments among voters or they can aim to strategically challenge mainstream political elites on a core issue - EU accession - that had grown to define mainstream policies. In the second case, opposition to the EU serves only as a signal to voters and is instrumental in capturing the segments of the population that have become dissatisfied with mainstream governments. Yet, a perception of "sameness" of the mainstream political parties does not automatically need to result in a protest vote. If citizens felt that the core political parties are performing satisfactorily, their convergence on a variety of issues might not have resulted in disenchantment with the political process. In Central and East Europe, however, mainstream political elites have continuously been charged with engaging in corrupt and dishonest behavior with disastrous consequences for the political system. Perceptions of widespread political corruption can thus serve as a trigger which, coupled with viewing mainstream parties as "all the same", intensifies the likelihood that voters would choose a Eurosceptic party as a form of electoral protest. I test my theory through a combination of statistical analysis and comparative case studies. I use an original random representative survey conducted in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic to test this dissertation's individual level hypotheses. At the country level, I use a longitudinal analysis of election results from all countries in Central and East Europe. Finally, I conduct in-depth case studies of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Estonia. Results support the main propositions of this study and confirm that perceptions of mainstream party similarity and political corruption are associated with a Eurosceptic vote

Understanding members of the European Parliament: four waves of the European Parliament Research Group MEP survey

This article presents a new survey of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) conducted during 2015, which adds to a time series of MEP surveys carried out by the European Parliament Research Group. The data allow for comparison of MEPs’ views with those of the EU public, European Parliament candidates, and members of national and regional parliaments in Europe. The survey includes questions on topical issues, such as intra-EU migration and the UK–EU relationship. The dataset can be used to address a range of research questions concerning MEPs’ preferences and representation. This article presents details of the 2015 MEP survey and uses the data to assess what explains MEPs’ attitudes to the question of whether all EP plenary sessions should be held in Brussels

An ever-closer union? Measuring the expansion and ideological content of European Union policy-making through an expert survey

Only a few studies have measured the expansion of European Union competences and they have relied on information derived from consecutive treaties, producing measures that do not vary in between. But decisions on the allocation of authority to the European Union also occur regularly through secondary legislation. This article presents a new index of the Europeanisation of policy based on an expert survey. The index provides a valuable new resource, encompassing 1957 to 2014, on the distribution of authority between the European Union and member states across policy fields, and on the ideological content of primary and secondary legislation. The study discusses the contributions made to existing scholarship, presents key findings from experts’ assessments, and demonstrates how the dataset can advance research on European integration

Eurosceptic Cues and Citizen Attitudes

The goal of this project was to study and explain how different types of elite Euroscepticism affect citizens’ attitudes. For this purpose, a survey experiment in Germany, France and the United Kingdom was conducted. Respondents were presented with different types of Eurosceptic messages – criticizing the European Union from an economic, institutional and cultural perspective. Following the experimental treatment, respondents were asked a range of questions about their ideological and policy views on EU-related and domestic issues.The goal of this project was to study and explain how different types of elite Euroscepticism affect citizens’ attitudes. For this purpose, a survey experiment in Germany, France and the United Kingdom was conducted. Respondents were presented with different types of Eurosceptic messages – criticizing the European Union from an economic, institutional and cultural perspective. Following the experimental treatment, respondents were asked a range of questions about their ideological and policy views on EU-related and domestic issues

Party Competition, Corruption and Electoral Behaviour in the new EU Member States

What accounts for the electoral successes of Eurosceptic and populist political parties in Central and East Europe? Citizens in the region have expressed their support for these types of parties in recent elections while, at the same time, aggregate levels of support for EU membership and trust in EU institutions remain high. EU-centered explanations for the growing popularity of these parties have focused on the dissatisfaction of citizens with specific aspects of European integration such as economic reforms, perceived loss of sovereignty or the strict requirements regarding protection of minorities. This paper proposes an alternative causal explanation by establishing a relationship between perceptions of domestic political corruption, mainstream party convergence and citizens’ growing support for populist and Eurosceptic parties. By choosing to support these parties citizens in the region are, in fact, casting a protest vote against domestic political elites. A public opinion survey from Bulgaria and the Czech Republic is utilized to test these hypotheses. Results suggest that perceptions of political corruption and the similarity of mainstream political parties play a large role in determining vote choice

Indirect Effects of Eurosceptic Messages on Citizen Attitudes toward Domestic Politics

Does criticism of the European Union (EU) by elites cultivate support for democratic values among ordinary citizens? All Eurosceptic messages are critical of European integration; they do not all vilify similar aspects of the European Union. This article proposes a framing model of the effects of Euroscepticism on citizens' domestic political attitudes. EU critiques that are framed in terms of ‘democratic deficit’ lead citizens to consider which political values are desirable in democratic society and may promote support for liberal democratic norms among citizens exposed to these messages. Eurosceptic rhetoric is built into framing experiments that vary the content of EU-critical messages. Subjects in the United Kingdom and Bulgaria are randomly exposed to a ‘cultural threat’ or ‘democratic deficit’ criticism of the EU. Both Eurosceptic frames reduce support for integration, but subjects exposed to the ‘deficit frame’ more strongly embrace liberal democratic values. Under certain conditions, Euroscepticism may carry benefits for representative democracy

The effect of supranational identity on cultural values in Europe

Does supranational identity have an independent effect on individuals’ beliefs about culturally contested issues in their national systems? This article demonstrates that self-categorization in the supranational realm – a seemingly unrelated category to domestic value cleavages – has implications for individuals’ views on cultural issues. Traditional theories of international norm diffusion focus almost exclusively on state-level interactions, but our findings provide further evidence to the existence of a more direct mechanism through which norms reach some citizens. A sense of identification with a supranational entity such as Europe makes citizens more likely to espouse the views and opinions promoted by supranational organizations. We use the European Values Study to examine whether supranational identity is associated with socially liberal preferences. Results from the multi-level models indicate that supranational identity exerts a systematic effect on attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights and gender equality. Additionally, while these effects are more consistent in EU member states, supranational identity exhibits a similar impact on social attitudes in non-EU countries such as those in the former Soviet Union

Trust in the Institutions of the European Union: A Cross-Country Examination

Trust in political institutions is one of the key elements which make representative democracies work. Trust creates a connection between citizens and representative political institutions. Democratic governments which enjoy a large degree of trust also tend to have higher degrees of legitimacy and policy efficacy. In Europe’s multi-level governance structure, it is imperative to understand the determinants of trust in the institutions of the European Union. With the increasing salience of the European Union, are domestic proxies still a key determinant of evaluating its institutions? Are there differences across the institutions and across the member states? We demonstrate that country-level corruption levels are what drives the relationship between domestic and European institutional trust. The majority of the variation in trust in the institutions of the European Union is, however, driven by individual-level predictors. We also find that individuals across Europe evaluate the institutions of the European Union through a single attitude dimension of political trust rather than through separate evaluations

The Political Space in the European Parliament: Measuring MEPs' Preferences Amid the Rise of Euroscepticism

The 2014-19 European Parliament (EP) contained an unprecedented number of Eu-rosceptic Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).  These changes reflecteda growing politicisation of European integration in which conflicts between thoseopposing  the  process  and  those  favouring  it  became  more  pronounced.   Using  aunique time-series of surveys of the European parliamentarians, we examine howfar the policy preferences of the MEPs responded to this politicisation.  MEPs’ pref-erences over general policy questions as well as EU-specific issues have traditionallybeen  described  by  a  multi-dimensional  space:  with  a  left-right  dimension,  incor-porating both economic and socio-cultural issues, distinct from a pro-/anti-Europedimension.  We find that the political space in the EP evolved in the 2014-19 par-liament, with MEPs’ preferences more strongly aligned along a single dimension,which captures economic, socio-cultural, and EU integration issues.</p