The Evolving Relationship between Authoritarianism and EU Attitudes

Abstract

This chapter examines the evolving relationship between authoritarianism and EU attitudes from the early 1990s until 2017. Up until the early 1990s, EU attitudes were structured primarily by economic concerns. The economic ‘winners’ of European integration (e.g. professionals) supported the EU more than the ‘losers’ (e.g. unskilled workers). With the debate over the EU centred increasingly on socio-cultural issues, the structure of EU attitudes has shifted—activating the perception of threat among high authoritarians. In the 1990s, there is no relationship between authoritarianism and EU attitudes, but a negative relationship emerges in the twenty-first century. Moreover, this relationship is stronger in those countries that had more national-level party conflict over the EU. Because this conflict resulted from the emergence of anti-EU parties, this result indicates that high authoritarians became more likely to oppose the EU in those countries where Eurosceptical parties were more successful in advancing the message that the EU threatens national community. These results suggest that the evolution of EU attitudes reflects the growing perception of threat to national community and sovereignty—and this evolution has been strongest where Eurosceptical political elites have been more influential.