Regarding the Dutch `Nee' to the European Constitution: a test of the identity, utilitarian and political approaches to voting 'no'

In June 2005, 61.5% of the Dutch voted `nee' in the referendum on the European constitution. In the present contribution I test hypotheses from the national identity, utilitarian and political approaches to explain this voting behaviour. I collected data in the Netherlands to test whether one of those approaches has been decisive in explaining the referendum outcome. I also provide information about whether specific EU evaluations from these approaches explain the voting behaviour, thus bringing in the discussion on the importance of domestic political evaluations (second-order election effects). I also test hypotheses on which theoretical approach explains differences between social categories in rejecting the constitution. My results show that specifically EU evaluations in particular accounted for the `no' vote, although in conjunction with a strong effect from domestic political evaluations. I also find evidence for `party-following behaviour' irrespective of people's attitudes. Utilitarian explanations determine the `no' vote less well than political or national identity explanations. The strongest impact on voting 'no' came from a perceived threat from the EU to Dutch culture

Over het ‘nee’ tegen de Europese grondwet:Een studie naar het belang van verschillende verklaringen

Een ruime meerderheid van de Nederlandse kiezers heeft zich twee jaar geleden tegen de ratificatie van de Europese grondwet uitgesproken. Wat waren de motieven van de tegenstemmers en waarin verschilden ze van de voorstemmers? Marcel Lubbers beantwoordt deze vragen door diverse hypothetische verklaringen van het stemgedrag te vergelijken en te toetsen. De tegenstemmers blijken vooral op twee punten van de voorstemmers te verschillen: ze ervaren in sterkere mate een bedreiging van de Nederlandse cultuur en ze koesteren een sterker wantrouwen tegen de Nederlandse en de Europese politiek. Dat verklaart tevens waarom lager opgeleiden veel vaker ‘nee’ stemden dan hoger opgeleide

Attitudes towards homosexuality amongst recent Polish Migrants in Western Europe: migrant selectivity and attitude change

This contribution investigates the attitudes towards homosexuality of newly arrived immigrants from Poland in two Western European countries; Ireland and the Netherlands, with a particular interest in how these attitudes develop over time after migration. Polish natives are on average less accepting of homosexuality than those of these two host countries. First, we infer from comparisons between migrants and non-migrants residing in the origin country whether a selection effect of migrants with a more liberal attitude exists. We find that there is evidence for selective out-migration that remains when controlling for pre-migration characteristics. Second, using data collected shortly after arrival of immigrants and from a second wave one and a half years later in the host country, we show whether immigrants adapt to the norms of the host country and to what extent they maintain the dominant attitudes of the origin country. We find that attitudinal changes after migration are associated with the level of social integration in the host country and maintenance of religious involvement

Rising Euroscepticism is positively linked to increased support for radical right-wing parties.

Support for the EU has fallen in several European countries since the beginning of the financial crisis. Han Werts, Marcel Lubbers and Peer Scheepers assess the political effects of this rise in Euroscepticism using data from the European Social Survey. Their analysis shows that the probability of voting for radical right-wing parties increases substantially with levels of Euroscepticism

Het homohuwelijk na invoering:voor- en tegenstanders

Gay marriage after its introduction: supporters and objectors Sixty-five percent of the Dutch population disagrees largely or completely with the statement that gay marriage should be abolished, whereas sixteen percent agrees to it. In this article, we show which characteristics increase the likelihood to reject gay marriage. With information on family of origin, we show that the perception of mother’s attitude towards homosexuality during one’s youth strongly affects rejecting gay marriage. But the strongest determinant comes from socialization by ways of religious institutions. Here, attending religious services is more important than the distinction between various denominations. A lower education enhances particularly the chance to be neutral regarding abolishing gay marriage, whereas field of education has no effect. Moreover, we show that men and non-western immigrants have a larger likelihood to reject gay marriage