Party polarization and citizens’ indecision about European integration.
(2018) 5th Interim Conference Political Sociology Research Network 32 of the European Sociological Association — Location: Prague (2.November.2018)
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- Abstract
- There seems to be a consensus between scholars of European studies that “something like politicization has occurred” (Schmitter, 2009: 211-212). More than the overall salience of the issue - which remains limited compared to other competed issues in the national arena - the politicization of the EU is particularly visible in terms of the polarization of political actors, in particular parties. While increased contestation is particularly clear for political elites and parties, it is still more controversial how this conflict is received and to what extent it has translated into citizens’ attitudes toward Europe. Hence, this article reverses the “constraining dissensus” hypothesis, by arguing that national parties are central actors of the politicization process of the EU. Our main question therefore is to what extent party polarization on the European issue leads to citizens’ polarization. Using data from the Chapel Hill Expert Surveys and Eurobarometer surveys to measure party and citizens’ polarization, we study this mechanism in fourteen countries over more than thirty years. Our main findings suggest that in some countries, the level of party polarization on the European integration issue has increased over time, from the eighties to today, while this is not the case for the polarization of citizens’ attitudes. Furthermore, the degree of party polarization can explain the different level of dispersion of citizens’ attitudes across countries while it also leads to less decided citizens both across and within numerous countries.
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Versailles, A., & Le Corre Juratic, M. (2018). Party polarization and citizens’ indecision about European integration. 5th Interim Conference Political Sociology Research Network 32 of the European Sociological Association, Prague. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/58215