Public Opinion in Europe toward the European Union

IF 1.2 4区 社会学 Q3 POLITICAL SCIENCE Political Science Pub Date : 2020-10-28 DOI:10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0319
Zuzana Ringlerova
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Abstract

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.
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欧洲公众对欧盟的看法
欧洲联盟(EU)是一个超国家政治体系,将25个以上的欧洲国家团结在一起。欧洲一体化开始促进经济合作。随着时间的推移,它演变成了一个经济和政治联盟。欧洲一体化进程在20世纪80年代和90年代加速。因此,欧洲联盟于1993年成立,并承担了更多的政治权力。丹麦公民投票的结果减缓了建立欧盟的进程,丹麦起初没有批准建立欧盟的条约。这次公投表明,公众对欧洲一体化的支持不再是理所当然的,公众对欧盟的态度对欧盟的未来发展至关重要。换言之,宽容共识的时代结束了,公众舆论显然已成为欧洲一体化发展的强大力量。从那时起,公众舆论在许多方面对欧洲一体化的方向产生了明显的影响。这种影响的例子包括瑞典拒绝使用单一欧洲货币、欧洲宪法的失败,以及最引人注目的英国退出欧盟的决定。公众舆论也在其他方面影响了欧洲政治。例如,国家政治精英在欧洲层面上的行为受到国内舆论的制约。了解公众对欧盟的看法的重要性催生了一个活跃的研究项目。为了理解公民对欧盟的态度,研究人员首先必须对该领域的关键概念进行概念化,特别是公众支持欧盟的意义。此后,学者们开始调查人们为什么支持或反对欧盟,这成为该领域研究最广泛的话题。此外,研究还考察了公众对特定欧洲政策的支持、与欧盟相关的公民投票的决定因素、欧盟以外国家对欧盟成员国身份的公众支持,以及公众舆论对欧盟决策的重要性。所有这些主题都包含在本附注释的参考书目中。一般介绍和复习文章部分列出了复习文章和教科书章节,这些章节对整个主题进行了快速概述。下一节“公众对欧盟的支持是什么?我们如何解释?”?,深入探讨公众支持欧盟的概念,询问这一概念是如何定义的,以及如何解释对欧盟的支持。以下三节涉及对特定欧盟政策的公众意见(对特定欧盟策略的公众意见)、非成员国对欧盟的公众支持(候选国和其他非成员国的公众支持)以及公众意见对欧盟政策制定的影响问题(公众意见对欧盟政策制定重要吗?)。倒数第二节专门讨论欧洲事务的公投(公投:解释人民投票,解释英国脱欧)。最后一节(数据来源)介绍了可用于研究公众对欧盟态度的数据来源。
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来源期刊
Political Science
Political Science POLITICAL SCIENCE-
CiteScore
0.90
自引率
0.00%
发文量
13
期刊介绍: Political Science publishes high quality original scholarly works in the broad field of political science. Submission of articles with a regional focus on New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific is particularly encouraged, but content is not limited to this focus. Contributions are invited from across the political science discipline, including from the fields of international relations, comparative politics, political theory and public administration. Proposals for collections of articles on a common theme or debate to be published as special issues are welcome, as well as individual submissions.
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