Login | Register

Citizen Discontent in the European Union: A General Phenomenon?

Title:

Citizen Discontent in the European Union: A General Phenomenon?

Tannahill, Kerry L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5998-6324 (2012) Citizen Discontent in the European Union: A General Phenomenon? Masters thesis, Concordia University.

[thumbnail of Tannahill_MA_F2012.pdf]
Preview
Text (application/pdf)
Tannahill_MA_F2012.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Spectrum Terms of Access.
2MB

Abstract

The European Union (EU) through a series of treaties has gradually deepened its institutional powers within member states and widened its membership to 27. These changes were largely pushed forward by political elites relying on permissive consensus. Failed referenda on treaties and declining general support (beginning in 1993 with the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht) expose growing public discontent. Previous studies claim that when citizens voted against the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe and the substantively similar Treaty of Lisbon, they did so based not on opposition to the treaties themselves but to something else. Through evaluation of all 27 member states, I reveal that discontent is highest on the question of enlargement. Conclusions in the literature on what explains this opposition are also mixed. Replicating a study conducted by Gabel (1998), I compare the many integration support theories existing in the literature. Using survey responses from Eurobarometers and the European Values Study I establish that citizens are not homogeneous in what determines their views toward enlargement. Attitudes of individuals in original member states are influenced by their level of trust in governmental organizations. Members of the first enlargement base their opinion on the degree of Europeanization of their self-identity. And citizens from the most recent enlargements consider the EU in terms of their attitudes toward national governments.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Political Science
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Tannahill, Kerry L.
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M.A.
Program:Public Policy and Public Administration
Date:August 2012
Thesis Supervisor(s):Huelsemeyer, Axel
ID Code:974660
Deposited By: KERRY TANNAHILL
Deposited On:30 Oct 2012 15:29
Last Modified:18 Jan 2018 17:38

References:

Aarts, Kees, and van der Kolk, Henk. 2006. Understanding the Dutch “no”: The Euro, the East, and the Elite. PS: Political Science & Politics, 39(2), 243-6.
Arts, Wilhelmus A., Hagenaars, Jacques A., and Halman, Loek. 2003.
The Cultural Diversity of European Unity: Findings, Explanations and Reflections from the European Values Study. Leiden: Brill.
Best, Heinrich, Lengyel, György, and Verzichelli, Luca. 2012.
The Europe of Elites: A Study into the Europeanness of Europe’s Political and Economic Elites. Integrated and United. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bovenberg, Lans. 2003. Unity Produces Diversity: The Economics of Europes’ Social Capital, in The Cultural Diversity of European Unity: Findings, Explanations and Reflections from the European Values Study, edited by W. A. Arts, et al. Leiden: Brill, 403-19.
Brunsden, Jim. 2007. Opt-Outs Extended to Address Concerns at Loss of National Vetoes. Europolitics, (3407), 33.
Consilium. 2011. Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe (Deposited with the Government of the Italian Republic). [Online]. Available at: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/cms3_Applications/applications/Accords/details.asp?cmsid=297&id=2004066&lang=EN&doclang=EN> [accessed: February 2011].
Coughlan, Anthony. 2009. Lisbon - A Constitutional Revolution by Stealth? [Online]. Available at: http://euobserver.com/7/29058 [accessed: June 2012].
De Vreese, Claes H. 2004. Why European Citizens Will Reject the EU Constitution. Center for European Studies Working Paper, (116).
Eichenberg, Richard C., and Dalton, Russell J. 2007. Post-Maastricht Blues: The Transformation of Citizen Support for European Integration, 1973-2004. Acta Politica, 42(2-3), 128-52.
El-Agraa, Ali M. 1994. The Economics of the European Community. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
EU-Oplysningen. 2012. What are the Three Pillars of the EU? [Online]. Available at: http://www.eu-oplysningen.dk/euo_en/spsv/all/12/ [accessed: February 2012].
Europa.eu. 2008. The Outcome of the European Convention. [Online]. Available at: http://europa.eu/scadplus/european_convention/introduction_en.htm [accessed: June 2012].
Europa.eu. 2012a. European External Action Service: Policies. [Online]. Available at: http://eeas.europa.eu/policies/index_en.htm [accessed: June 2012].
Europa.eu. 2012b. Panorama of the European Union. [Online]. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/publications/booklets/eu_glance/79/en.pdf [accessed: June 2012].
European Commission. 2005. Flash Eurobarometer 172 Report: The European Constitution: Post-Referendum in The Netherlands. TNS Sofres c/o EOS Gallup Europe. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl172_en.pdf.
European Commission. 2008. Flash Eurobarometer 245 Report: Lisbon Treaty Post-Referendum Survey Ireland. The Gallup Organization. http://ec.europa.eupublic_opinion/flash/fl_245_en.pdf;.
European Commission. 2009a. Eurobarometer 67.2: European Union Enlargement, Personal Data Privacy, the National Economy, and Scientific Research, April-may 2007. Cologne: TNS OPINION & SOCIAL, Brussels [Producer]. GESIS Data Archive.
European Commission. 2009b. Flash Eurobarometer 284 Report: Lisbon Treaty Post-Referendum Survey Ireland. The Gallup Organization. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_284_en.pdf.
European Commission. 2010. Eurobarometer 68.2: European Union Policy and Decision Making, Corruption, Civil Justice, E-Communications, Agriculture, and Environmental Protection, November 2007-January 2008. Cologne: TNS OPINION & SOCIAL, Brussels [Producer]. GESIS Data Archive.
European Commission. 2011a. Eurobarometer 69.2: National and European Identity, European Elections, European Values, and Climate Change, March-may 2008. Cologne: TNS OPINION & SOCIAL, Brussels [Producer]. GESIS Data Archive.
European Commission. 2011b. Eurobarometer 71.1: European Parliament and Elections, Economic Crisis, Climate Change, and Chemical Products, January-February 2009. Cologne: TNS OPINION & SOCIAL, Brussels [Producer]. GESIS Data Archive.
European Commission. 2012a. Eurobarometer 63.4: European Union Enlargement, the European Constitution, Economic Challenges, Innovative Products and Services, may-June 2005. Cologne: TNS OPINION & SOCIAL, Brussels [Producer]. GESIS Data Archive.
European Commission. 2012b. Eurobarometer 66.1: European Values and Societal Issues, Mobile Phone use, and Farm Animal Welfare, September-October 2006. Cologne: TNS OPINION & SOCIAL, Brussels [Producer]. GESIS Data Archive.
European Commission. 2012c. Eurobarometer 71.3: Globalization, Personal Values and Priorities, European Identity, Future of the European Union, Social Problems and Welfare, and European Elections, June-July, 2009. Cologne: TNS OPINION & SOCIAL, Brussels [Producer]. GESIS Data Archive.
European Council. 2001. Presidency Conclusions - European Council Meeting in Laeken 14 and 15 December 2001 (SN 300/1/01 REV 1).
European Council. 2007. Brussels European Council 21/22 June 2007.
European Parliament. 2011. Ordinary Legislative Procedure. [Online]. Available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/parliament/public/staticDisplay.do?id=46&pageRank=3&language=EN [accessed: February 2012].
European Union Committee. 2008. The Treaty of Lisbon: an Impact Assessment. London: Authority of the House of Lords. http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/eu-home-affairs-sub-committee-f-/Publications/previous-sessions/session-2007-08-publications/the-treaty-of-lisbon-an-impact-assessment/ [accessed: February 2012].
EVS. 2011. European Values Study 2008: Integrated Dataset (EVS 2008). Cologne: GESIS Data Archive.
Finke, Daniel. 2010. European Integration and its Limits: Intergovernmental Conflicts and their Domestic Origins. ECPR Press Monographs. edited by D. Castiglione and V. Hoffmann-Martinot. Colchester, UK: ECPR Press.
Fondation Robert Schuman. 2009. The Lisbon Treaty in 10 Information Sheets. [Online]. Available at: http://www.robert-schuman.eu/tout-comprendre-sur-le-traite-de-lisbonne.php?r=1 [accessed: January 2012].
Franklin, Mark N., Van,der Eijk, Cees, and Marsh, Michael. 1995. Referendum Outcomes and Trust in Government: Public Support for Europe in the Wake of Maastricht. West European Politics, 18(3), 101-17.
Gabel, Matthew. 1998. Public Support for European Integration: An Empirical Test of Five Theories. Journal of Politics, 60(2), 333-54.
Gilpin, Robert. 2001. Global Political Economy: Understanding the International Economic Order. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Hagenaars, Jacques A., Halman, Loek, and Moors, Guy. 2003. Exploring Europe’s Basic Values Map, in The Cultural Diversity of European Unity: Findings, Explanations and Reflections from the European Values Study, edited by W. A. Arts, et al. Leiden: Brill, 23-48.
Haller, Max. 2008. European Integration as an Elite Process: The Failure of a Dream? New York: Routledge.
Hooghe, Liesbet, Bakker, Ryan, Brigevich, Anna, de Vries, Catherine, Edwards, Erica, Marks, Gary, Rovny, Jan, Steenbergen, Marco, and Vachudova, Milada. 2010. Reliability and Validity of Measuring Party Positions: The Chapel Hill Expert Surveys of 2002 and 2006. European Journal of Political Research, 42(4), 684-703.
Hosli, Madeleine O., and Arnold, Christine. 2010. The Importance of Actor Cleavages in Negotiating the European Constitution. International Studies Quarterly, 54(3), 615-32.
Hurrelmann, Achim. 2007. European Democracy, the ‘Permissive Consensus’ and the Collapse of the EU Constitution. European Law Journal, 13(3), 343-59.
Inglehart, Ronald. 1970. Cognitive Mobilization and European Identity. Comparative Politics, 3(1), 45-70.
Jacob, Philip E. 1964. The Influence of Values in Political Integration, in The Integration of Political Communities, edited by P. E. Jacob and J. V. Toscano. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 209-46.
Kaczyński, Piotr M., and ó Broin, Peadar. 2009. Two New Leaders in Search of a Job Description. CEPS Policy Brief, (200).
Kaelberer, Matthias. 2004. The Euro and European Identity: Symbols, Power and the Politics of European Monetary Union. Review of International Studies, 30(2), 161-78.
Kehrberg, Jason E. 2007. Public Opinion on Immigration in Western Europe: Economics, Tolerance, and Exposure. Comparative European Politics, 5(3), 264-81.
Key, V. O. 1961. Public Opinion and American Democracy. New York: Knopf.
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Rittberger, Berthold. 2007. Debating the Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Kurpas, Sebastian. 2007. The Treaty of Lisbon - how Much ‘Constitution’ is Left? an Overview of the Main Changes. CEPS Policy Brief, (147).
Lanzieri, Giampaolo. 2008. Population and Social Conditions. [Online]. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat [accessed: June 2012].
Lijphart, Arend. 1971. Cultural Diversity and Theories of Political Integration. Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue Canadienne De Science Politique, 4(1), 1-14.
McCormick, John. 2008. Understanding the European Union: A Concise Introduction. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
McLaren, Lauren M. 2002. Public Support for the European Union: Cost/Benefit Analysis Or Perceived Cultural Threat? Journal of Politics, 64(2), 551-66.
McNamara, Sally. 2010. EU Foreign Policymaking Post-Lisbon: Confused and Contrived. Backgrounder, (2388).
Milner, Henry. 2006. "YES to the Europe I Want; NO to this One" some Reflections on France’s Rejection of the EU Constitution. PS: Political Science & Politics, 39(2), 257-60.
Norris, Pippa. 2011. Democratic Deficit: Critical Citizens Revisited. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Official Journal of the European Union. 2007. Treaty of Lisbon Amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community, signed at Lisbon, 13 December 2007. Luxembourg:http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/official-journal-of-the-european-union-c-306-17.12.2007-pbFXAC07306/downloads/FX-AC-07-306-EN-C/FXAC07306ENC_002.pdf?FileName=FXAC07306ENC_002.pdf&SKU=FXAC07306ENC_PDF&CatalogueNumber=FX-AC-07-306-EN-C [accessed: June 2012].
OPTEM. 2001. Perceptions de l’Union Européenne, attitudes et attentes a son égard: Étude qualitative auprès du public des 15 états membres et de 9 pays candidats a l’adhésion. Brussels: European Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/quali/ql_perceptions_summary_fr.pdf [accessed: November 2011].
Papier, Hans J. 2008. The Lisbon Treaty: The Irish ‘no’. Europes New Realism: The Treaty of Lisbon. European Constitutional Law Review, 4(3), 421-8.
Peers, Steve. 2009. Lisbon Treaty Guarantees for Ireland. [Online]. Available at: www.statewatch.org/news/2009/jun/lisbon-ireland.pdf [accessed: November 2011].
Putnam, Robert D. 2007. E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-First Century the 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture. Scandinavian Political Studies, 30(2), 137-74.
Quinlan, Stephen. 2009. The Lisbon Treaty Referendum 2008. Irish Political Studies, 24(1), 107-21.
Rehfeld, Andrew. 2005. The Concept of Constituency: Political Representation, Democratic Legitimacy, and Institutional Design. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Risse, Thomas. 2001. A European Identity? Europeanization and the Evolution of Nation-State Identities, in Transforming Europe: Europeanization and Domestic Change, edited by M. G. Cowles, et al. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 198-216.
Risse, Thomas. 2010. A Community of Europeans? Transnational Identities and Public Spheres. Ithaca: Cornell University.
Ruiz-Jiménez, Antonia M., and Torreblanca, Jose I. 2008. Is there a Trade-Off between Deepening and Widening? what do Europeans Think? European Policy Institutes Network, (17).
Sanchez Martinez, Mariano. 1996. Public Opinion and Democratic Legitimacy in the Political System of the European Union. Revista Internacional De Sociologia, (15), 37-57.
Stimson, James A., MacKuen, Michael B., and Erikson, Robert S. 1995. Dynamic Representation. American Political Science Review, 89(3), 543.
The European Convention. 2003. Report from the Presidency of the Convention to the President of the European Council (CONV 851/03). Brussels:http://european-convention.eu.int/pdf/reg/en/03/cv00/cv00851.en03.pdf [accessed: February 2012].
Thorhallsson, Baldur. 2006. The Size of States in the European Union: Theoretical and Conceptual Perspectives. Journal of European Integration, 28(1), 7-31.
Thorhallsson, Baldur, and Wivel, Anders. 2006. Small States in the European Union: What do we Know and what would we Like to Know? Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 19(4), 651-68.
UCLA. 2012. Stat Computing: What does Cronbach’s Alpha Mean? [Online]. Available at: http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/spss/faq/alpha.html [accessed: June 2012].
Van den Brink, Ton, and van Keulen, Mendeltje. 2007. Rediscovering Europe in the Netherlands : Towards Strengthened Legitimacy of Dutch EU Policy. Horizons Stratégiques, 4(6), 64-73.
Weβels, Bernhard. 2007. Discontent and European Identity: Three Types of Euroscepticism. Acta Politica, 42(2-3), 287-306.
All items in Spectrum are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved. The use of items is governed by Spectrum's terms of access.

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads per month over past year

Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
- Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
Back to top Back to top