Interests and Integration
Interests and Integration

Author: Matthew Joseph Gabel

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2009-12-10

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 0472022245

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Integration in Europe has been a slow incremental process focusing largely on economic matters. Policy makers have tried to develop greater support for the European Union by such steps as creating pan-European political institutions. Yet significant opposition remains to policies such as the creation of a single currency. What explains continued support for the European Union as well as opposition among some to the loss of national control on some questions? Has the incremental process of integration and the development of institutions and symbols of a united Europe transformed public attitudes towards the European Union? In this book, Matthew Gabel probes the attitudes of the citizens of Europe toward the European Union. He argues that differences in attitudes toward integration are grounded in the different perceptions of how economic integration will affect individuals' economic welfare and how perceptions of economic welfare effect political attitudes. Basing his argument on Easton's idea that where affective support for institutions is low, citizens will base their support for institutions on their utilitarian appraisal of how well the institutions work for them, Gabel contends that in the European Union, citizens' appraisal of the impact of the Union on their individual welfare is crucial because their affective support is quite low. This book will be of interest to scholars studying European integration as well as scholars interested in the impact of public opinion on economic policymaking. Matthew Gabel is Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Kentucky.

The Making of the European Union
The Making of the European Union

Author: Sten Berglund

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2006-01-01

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9781781959008

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The Making of the European Union argues that the process of European integration has drifted into serious crisis, perhaps the most serious since the Danes voted against the Treaty of the European Union in 1992. Analysing the conditions for European integration, this book applies a citizens' or 'bottom-up' perspective on the integration process. The difficulties that the constitutional process has encountered illustrate the relevance of bringing public opinion into the analysis of the prospects for European integration. The book describes and analyses the historical, mental, intellectual , and attitudinal denominators of European integration, denominators that have shaped the processes so far and will continue to do so in the future. The authors apply a broad comparative perspective, where European nation-states constitute the primary units of analysis. The focus is on the foundations of European integration, public views about the EU, including various shades of Euroscepticism, and the long-term prospects of the EU. This book will appeal to a wide audience including scholars and researchers in the social sciences - particularly political science, comparative politics and European studies. The book will also be of great interest to journalists and all those involved in the EU, including policy makers and civil servants throughout the EU itself.

Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration
Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration

Author: Catherine E. De Vries

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-01-26

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 0192511904

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The European Union (EU) is facing one of the rockiest periods in its existence. No time in its history has it looked so economically fragile, so unsecure about how to protect its borders, so divided over how to tackle the crisis of legitimacy facing its institutions, and so under assault of Eurosceptic parties. The unprecedented levels of integration in recent decades have led to increased public contestation, yet at the same the EU is more reliant on public support for its continued legitimacy than ever before. This book examines the role of public opinion in the European integration process. It develops a novel theory of public opinion that stresses the deep interconnectedness between people's views about European and national politics, and suggests that public opinion cannot simply be characterized as either Eurosceptic or not, but rather consists of different types. This is important because these types coincide with fundamentally different views about the way the EU should be reformed and which policy priorities should be pursued. These types also have very different consequences for behaviour in elections and referenda. Euroscepticism is such a diverse phenomenon because the Eurozone crisis has exacerbated the structural imbalances within the EU. As the economic and political fates of member states diverged, people's experiences with and evaluations of the EU and national political systems also grew further apart. The heterogeneity in public preferences that this book has uncovered makes a one-size-fits-all approach to addressing Euroscepticism unlikely to be successful.

The Dynamics of Public Opinion
The Dynamics of Public Opinion

Author: Mary Layton Atkinson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-11-11

Total Pages: 83

ISBN-13: 1108877281

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A central question in political representation is whether government responds to the people. To understand that, we need to know what the government is doing, and what the people think of it. We seek to understand a key question necessary to answer those bigger questions: How does American public opinion move over time? We posit three patterns of change over time in public opinion, depending on the type of issue. Issues on which the two parties regularly disagree provide clear partisan cues to the public. For these party-cue issues we present a slight variation on the thermostatic theory from (Soroka and Wlezien (2010); Wlezien (1995)); our “implied thermostatic model.” A smaller number of issues divide the public along lines unrelated to partisanship, and so partisan control of government provides no relevant clue. Finally, we note a small but important class of issues which capture response to cultural shifts.

The Crisis of the European Union
The Crisis of the European Union

Author: Jürgen Habermas

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-03-03

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 0745681530

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Translated by Ciaran Cronin. In the midst of the current crisis that is threatening to derail the historical project of European unification, Jürgen Habermas has been one of the most perceptive critics of the ineffectual and evasive responses to the global financial crisis, especially by the German political class. This extended essay on the constitution for Europe represents Habermas’s constructive engagement with the European project at a time when the crisis of the eurozone is threatening the very existence of the European Union. There is a growing realization that the European treaty needs to be revised in order to deal with the structural defects of monetary union, but a clear perspective for the future is missing. Drawing on his analysis of European unification as a process in which international treaties have progressively taken on features of a democratic constitution, Habermas explains why the current proposals to transform the system of European governance into one of executive federalism is a mistake. His central argument is that the European project must realize its democratic potential by evolving from an international into a cosmopolitan community. The opening essay on the role played by the concept of human dignity in the genealogy of human rights in the modern era throws further important light on the philosophical foundations of Habermas’s theory of how democratic political institutions can be extended beyond the level of nation-states. Now that the question of Europe and its future is once again at the centre of public debate, this important intervention by one of the greatest thinkers of our time will be of interest to a wide readership.

The Oxford Handbook of the European Union
The Oxford Handbook of the European Union

Author: Erik Jones

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-08-30

Total Pages: 924

ISBN-13: 0199546282

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The Oxford Handbook of the European Union brings together numerous acknowledged specialists in their field to provide a comprehensive and clear assessment of the nature, evolution, workings, and impact of European integration.

EU Lobbying: Empirical and Theoretical Studies
EU Lobbying: Empirical and Theoretical Studies

Author: David Coen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-31

Total Pages: 173

ISBN-13: 1317968875

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EU Lobbying: Empirical and Theoretical studies offers an analysis of large empirical studies of interest group politics and Lobbying in Europe. Recognising the continued European economic integration, globalisation and the changing role of the state, it observs significant adaptations in interest mobilisation and strategic behavour. This book assesses the logic of collective and direct action, the logic of access and influence, the logic of venue-shopping and alliance building. It addresses specific issues such as: the emergence of elite pluralism in EU institutions, the pump priming of political action by EU institutions, and the growing political sophistication of private and public interests in Brussels. Through these issues the book explores how interest groups lobby different European institutions along the policy process and how the nature of policy dictates the style and level of lobbying. This book was previously published as a special issue of Jounal of European Public Policy

The European Union
The European Union

Author: Brent F. Nelsen

Publisher:

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 9780333732410

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Praise for the first edition: 'The authors..... are to be congratulated for producing a usable summary of the diverse writings on the European... Nelsen and Stubb have broken new ground with this reader.' - Journal of European Integration 'Highly accessible to students; each reading is clearly prefaced, set in context, and carefully and honestly abridged' - Talking Politics Already established as the leading collection of readings on the theory and practice of European integration, the second edition includes many new extracts in response to feedback from readers and adopters. The book brings together the views of key actors in the fifty year history of the European Union with a selection of key theoretical contributions to the understanding of European integration from the 1950s to the present. Each extract is set in context and summarised by a brief editorial introduction.