Abstract
In this paper we analyse the extent to which perceptions of the government’s role in the economic crisis impacted on the political behaviour of European citizens. This includes contentious political activities such as attending public meetings, participating in demonstrations, and joining strikes, but also electoral behaviour in the form of voting against the incumbent. We examine data from 2015 since it allows us to examine European nations experiencing different economic conditions as a result of the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent period of recession. We find that individuals who blamed the national government for the economic crisis and who were more unsatisfied with the government’s handling of unemployment were more likely to participate. However, the effect of these variables varied across different forms of political behaviour. Moreover, the study provides evidence that the effect of the perceptions of one’s own economic situation on political behaviour is conditional upon the perceptions people have of the way in which the government is dealing with the situation, and specifically with unemployment, a key marker of the extent of the negative effects of the economic crisis across European nations.
Highlights
The economic crisis starting in 2008 has led to unemployment growth and shrinking GDP across Europe
The study provides evidence that the effect of the perceptions of one’s own economic situation on political behaviour is conditional upon the perceptions people have of the way in which the government is dealing with the situation, and with unemployment, a key marker of the extent of the negative effects of the economic crisis across European nations
We have explored a number of potential effects on different types of political behaviour, which can all be seen as the political expression of dissatisfaction with the current political and economic situation, using an original dataset stemming from a survey conducted in nine European countries
Summary
The economic crisis starting in 2008 has led to unemployment growth and shrinking GDP across Europe. Previous research has shown that the economic downturn affected citizens’ support for government intervention (Malhotra and Margalit 2010; Margalit 2013; Popp and Rudolph 2011) and fuelled political protests and a variety of social movements (Bennett 2012; Skocpol and Williamson 2013) In those countries worst hit, large protests took place as European governments were blamed for the negative economic context (Giugni and Grasso 2015a, 2017a). An effort to fill both gaps has recently been made by Levin et al (2015) in their study on California before the 2010 General Election These authors have shown the impact of perceptions of economic conditions, policy-oriented evaluations, and blame assignment on involvement in a variety of political activities. Voting against the incumbent is not always the result of dissatisfaction with performance rather than a more proactive support of an alternative party or candidate, the four types of political behaviour analysed in this study can all be theorised as at least potential political expressions of dissatisfaction with the current state of things
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