scholarly journals The microdynamics of spatial polarization: A model and an application to survey data from Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (50) ◽  
pp. e2104194118
Author(s):  
Olivia J. Chu ◽  
Jonathan F. Donges ◽  
Graeme B. Robertson ◽  
Grigore Pop-Eleches
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Opinion Dynamics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Eu Support

Although spatial polarization of attitudes is extremely common around the world, we understand little about the mechanisms through which polarization on divisive issues rises and falls over time. We develop a theory that explains how political shocks can have different effects in different regions of a country depending upon local dynamics generated by the preexisting spatial distribution of attitudes and discussion networks. Where opinions were previously divided, attitudinal diversity is likely to persist after the shock. Meanwhile, where a clear precrisis majority exists on key issues, opinions should change in the direction of the predominant view. These dynamics result in greater local homogeneity in attitudes but at the same time exacerbate geographic polarization across regions and sometimes even within regions. We illustrate our theory by developing a modified version of the adaptive voter model, an adaptive network model of opinion dynamics, to study changes in attitudes toward the European Union (EU) in Ukraine in the context of the Euromaidan Revolution of 2013 to 2014. Using individual-level panel data from surveys fielded before and after the Euromaidan Revolution, we show that EU support increased in areas with high prior public support for EU integration but declined further where initial public attitudes were opposed to the EU, thereby increasing the spatial polarization of EU attitudes in Ukraine. Our tests suggest that the predictive power of both network and regression models increases significantly when we incorporate information about the geographic location of network participants, which highlights the importance of spatially rooted social networks.

scholarly journals Public Attitudes toward Renewable Energy in Croatia

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 8111
Author(s):  
Sunčana Slijepčević ◽  
Željka Kordej-De Villa
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Residential Sector ◽  
Good Potential ◽  
Survey Results

Renewable energy sources (RES) play a key role in achieving the European Union’s energy and climate objectives. As a member of the European Union, Croatia has committed to adopting European Directive 2009/28/EC, a directive on promoting the use of RES. Croatia shows good potential for the use of different types of RES. In the period 2009–2019, the share of renewable energy in energy consumption increased from 23.6 to 28.5 percent. The Croatian energy strategy aims to increase the national share of renewable energy to at least 32 percent by 2030. Acceptance and public support are essential for renewable energy to be introduced into energy policy and particularly to encourage renewable energy implementation in the residential sector. The purpose of the paper is to explore the public perception of renewable energy and citizens’ willingness to pay for the use of RES. Data were collected through a 2021 survey of citizens 18 years and older. The survey results show a low level of implementation of RES technology in the residential sector; more than 80 percent of respondents did not use any sources of renewable energy in their households. Results related to respondents’ knowledge of different sources of renewable energy suggest they have the most knowledge of solar, wind, and hydropower energy. Respondents believe that combating climate change, reducing dependency on energy imports, reducing environmental impacts, and improving health are the most important benefits of RES implementation. The survey reveals general support for RES among respondents; almost 89 percent of them would purchase renewable energy from local suppliers. In addition, 79 percent of survey participants were willing to pay for the introduction of RES technology into their households. The research shows that environmental concerns are the primary reason for citizens’ higher willingness to pay for RES.

scholarly journals Public Opinion in Europe toward the European Union

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzana Ringlerova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Review Articles ◽  
Eu Policies ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) is a supranational political system that unites more than twenty-five European countries. European integration began to facilitate economic cooperation. Over time, it evolved into both an economic and political union. The progress in European integration accelerated in the 1980s and the 1990s. As a result, the European Union was established in 1993 and assumed more political power. The process of establishing the European Union was slowed by the results of a referendum in Denmark, which at first did not approve the treaty establishing the EU. This referendum made it clear that public support for European integration could no longer be taken for granted and that public attitudes toward the EU are crucial for the European Union’s future development. In other words, the era of permissive consensus ended and it became clear that public opinion has become a powerful force in the development of European integration. Since then, public opinion has had a clear influence on the direction of European integration in a number of ways. Examples of this influence include the rejection of the single European currency in Sweden, the failure of the Constitution for Europe, and, most notably, the United Kingdom’s decision to exit the EU. Public opinion has influenced European politics in other ways as well. For example, national political elites, acting at the European level, are constrained in their decisions by public opinion at home. The importance of understanding public opinion toward the EU has given rise to a lively research program. In their quest to understand citizens’ attitudes toward the EU, researchers first had to conceptualize the key concepts in this field, in particular the meaning of public support for the EU. Following this, scholars began to investigate why people support or oppose the European Union, which became the most widely studied topic in this field. In addition, studies have examined public support for specific European policies, determinants of voting in EU-related referendums, public support for EU membership in countries outside the EU, and the extent to which public opinion matters for policymaking in the EU. All these topics are included in this annotated bibliography. The section devoted to General Introductions and Review Articles lists review articles and textbook chapters that provide a quick overview of the topic as a whole. The next section, What Is Public Support for the EU and How Do We Explain It?, digs deeper into the concept of public support for the EU, asking how the concept is defined and what explains support for the EU. The following three sections deal with public opinion toward specific EU policies (Public Opinion toward Specific EU Policies), public support for the EU in nonmember states (Public Support for the EU in Candidate Countries and Other Nonmember States), and the question of public opinion’s influence on policymaking in the EU (Does Public Opinion Matter for Policymaking in the EU?). The second-to-last section is devoted to referendums on European matters (Referendums: Explaining the People’s Vote, Explaining Brexit). The last section (Data Sources) looks at data sources that can be used in the study of public attitudes toward the EU.

scholarly journals EU transfers and Euroscepticism: can’t buy me love?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Borin ◽  
Elisa Macchi ◽  
Michele Mancini
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cohesion Policy ◽  
Redistributive Policies ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The future of an institution, such as the European Union, ultimately depends on people’s support. This paper investigates whether EU redistributive policies have improved public attitudes towards European integration, both in terms of public opinion and political preferences. We focus on Cohesion Policy funds, whose allocation allows us to single out these effects by means of a regression discontinuity approach. The results show that EU transfers have mitigated the rise of Eurosceptical attitudes and reduced political consensus for anti-EU parties. The effects are homogeneous across different socio-economic groups, including the most disadvantaged ones. The improvement in public support for the EU does not appear to be exclusively a spillover of the positive economic effect of funding; we show evidence suggesting the existence of a ‘reciprocity-effect’ channel, i.e. citizens in recipient regions recognize the beneficial role of the EU as the source of funding.

scholarly journals Taking back control? Investigating the role of immigration in the 2016 vote for Brexit

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 450-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Goodwin ◽  
Caitlin Milazzo
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Large Reservoir ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Level Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Eu

The 2016 referendum marked a watershed moment in the history of the United Kingdom. The public vote to leave the European Union (EU)—for a ‘Brexit’—brought an end to the country’s membership of the EU and set it on a fundamentally different course. Recent academic research on the vote for Brexit points to the importance of immigration as a key driver, although how immigration influenced the vote remains unclear. In this article, we draw on aggregate-level data and individual-level survey data from the British Election Study (BES) to explore how immigration shaped public support for Brexit. Our findings suggest that, specifically, increases in the rate of immigration at the local level and sentiments regarding control over immigration were key predictors of the vote for Brexit, even after accounting for factors stressed by established theories of Eurosceptic voting. Our findings suggest that a large reservoir of support for leaving the EU, and perhaps anti-immigration populism more widely, will remain in Britain, so long as immigration remains a salient issue.

scholarly journals A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE EU INTEGRATION PROCESS OF ALBANIA AND KOSOVO

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zerina Causevic ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Level Of Analysis ◽  
The Eu

Having their populations add up to over 80% of Albanian ethnicity, Kosovo and Albania can be conceptualized as being closely intertwined namely when it comes to their foreign policies. This article will primarily focus on the foreign policies of Albania and Kosovo through the lens of their major foreign policy goals and their connections with the European Union. The path of the contemporary existence of Albania and Kosovo has been marked by various events such as the dissolution of Kosovo from Serbia. Their primary efforts include building and maintaining a democratic society that would enable the two countries to gradually flourish and establish closer ties with neighboring countries as well as Europe and the EU if successful. This research provides a comparison of the two foreign policies through a lateral method by also focusing on one of the three levels of analysis, the individual, state, and system. Within the individual level emphasis is laid on crucial individuals such as Rama, Pacolli, Cakaj, and Meta. This level of analysis and the outline of influential decisionmakers statements and actions can confirm the idea that the two countries of Kosovo and Albania can survive only in case of successful cooperation amongst each other as well as through Euro Atlantic integration namely with the European Union.

Sharing Is Caring? Exploring the Relationship Between Preferences for Online Participation and Support for Solidarity Between EU Member States

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-537
Author(s):  
Verena K. Brändle ◽  
Olga Eisele
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Burden Sharing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Online Participation ◽  
Member States ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Eu Member States

The article explores the influence of online participation on individual-level support for burden-sharing measures among EU member states. The analysis is set against the backdrop of the discussion about solidarity in times of EU crises and follows an innovative approach by operationalizing social inclusion in the European Union via online participation. It is argued that the specific nature of the European Union favors the use of online channels for political information and participation, but that despite its inclusive potential, online participation does not necessarily mean public support for the European Union. Instead, we hypothesize that people who make more use of online participation channels—thus are supposedly better equipped to participate in EU politics—are more critical in their evaluation of burden-sharing measures. Based on a large-scale survey among EU citizens in late 2016, we conduct a regression analysis taking into account the influence of EU support and general considerations on solidarity. Results lend support to our hypothesis that people who participate in political affairs online do not express greater support for EU burden-sharing measures but are more critical. Results are interpreted as an expression of the constraining dissensus regarding EU politics: Negative effects are read as criticism of how solidarity in the European Union is implemented, not as opposition to solidarity in the European Union as such.

Europe from the Bottom: Assessing Personal Gains and Losses and its Effects on EU Support

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEFFEN MAU
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
Gains And Losses ◽  
People’S Perceptions ◽  
Eu Support ◽  
The Eu

Numerous authors have highlighted utilitarian considerations as sources of public support for the European Union, suggesting that support results primarily from cost-benefit calculations of the gains and losses associated with integration. Benefits accrue, not only to different member states, but also to individuals. Within this discussion it is often suggested that the gains and losses are unevenly distributed across social groups, with the higher status groups being privileged and the lower status groups disadvantaged. This paper challenges arguments that assume a clear division between lower social strata and higher social strata in terms of winning and losing in Europeanization; it looks more closely at how Europeans rate the integration process as it affects them personally, and how this influences their support for integration. The results show that socio-economic characteristics cannot fully explain people's perceptions of being winners or losers, and a large proportion of EU citizens do not consider themselves either winners or losers. The paper also demonstrates that the winner/loser self-characterization is indeed a major determinant of support for the EU, but that it only partly coincides with people's socio-economic position.

Priming religion: The effects of religious issues in the news coverage on public attitudes towards European integration

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Malte Hinrichsen ◽  
Hajo Boomgaarden ◽  
Claes de Vreese ◽  
Wouter van der Brug ◽  
Sara Binzer Hobolt
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Media Priming ◽  
Religious Issues ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

AbstractReligion can affect public support for the European Union (EU). However, specifying the circumstances under which religion may become a stronger predictor of EU-support has so far been neglected. This article shows that the media play a role in this process and it is investigated to what extent the presence or absence of references to religious issues in EU news coverage primes people's religious attitudes to contribute to their evaluation of the EU. For this purpose, a content analysis of the amount of religious news items in EU coverage in German and Dutch newspapers between 1997 and 2007 was conducted. Two points in time were chosen — 1998, when only a small amount of religious news items appeared in EU coverage, and 2005, when religious items reached a peak. Eurobarometer data were used to test the media priming proposition. The findings show that an increasing religious dimension in media coverage about the EU primes a linkage between religious and political considerations and thus influences the strength of the impact of religion on attitudes towards the EU.

scholarly journals Euroscepticism as a radical left party strategy for success

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882110389
Author(s):  
Sarah Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Right Wing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Party Strategy ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
Left Party ◽  
Radical Left

The European Union has gained salience as an issue in political debate. Recent literature shows that successful radical right-wing parties are frequently in opposition to European integration. This article looks at how radical left-wing parties’ positions on EU integration affect their electoral support. It argues that radical left parties can mobilize voters in their favour through positioning in opposition to EU integration because this allows voters to combine their left-wing economic and anti-EU preferences. Using expert and individual-level survey data, this research demonstrates that radical left-wing parties that position themselves against EU integration are more likely to gain individuals’ vote choice. This finding is surprising, given that traditionally radical left-wing parties are defined through their economic, rather than their non-economic, positions. This article demonstrates that variation in positioning around non-economic issues such as EU integration can explain differences in voter support across radical left-wing parties.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of Public Support for Business Innovation from EU Funds: Case Study in Slovakia

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-283
Author(s):  
Peter Pisár ◽  
Ina Ďurčeková ◽  
Milan Křápek
Keyword(s):  
Success Factors ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Value Added ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Business Innovation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Programming Period

Abstract Effective public support of innovations, research and development represents one of the priorities of the European Union (EU). The aim of this paper was to examine the effectiveness of one such public programme – public support for business innovation from EU funds in Slovakia – by using selected quasi-experimental design methods on the example of the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Economic Growth for the programming period 2007 – 2013. The value added of this paper is the fact that we use the method proposed and used by the European Commission and Slovak national authorities. The “difference-in-differences” method is used to compare the changes in value added of supported firms before and after the intervention in comparison to firms that did not receive support. The results suggest that the public support from selected calls of the evaluated operational programme was effective and delivered improvements not only in the field of innovativeness and competitiveness, but also in the area of employment. The evaluated call was much more effective compared to other calls of the programme evaluated by other authors. The responses from the management body suggest that the core success factors were the contents of the call and timing.

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