European Public Opinion Research Articles

Ideology in the European Mass Public: A Dynamic Perspective

The study of representation, electoral dynamics, and public opinion in Europe requires a scale of the public's latent ideology that is comparable across time and space. However, European public opinion polls rarely include enough questions in a given domain to apply scaling techniques such as IRT models at the individual level. As a result, there are no existing measures of latent ideology in Europe that are based on survey responses. In this paper, we use a Bayesian group-level IRT to develop the first measure of policy ideology that is comparable both across European countries and across time. We found that countries within Europe have become relatively polarized over time, and that patterns of ideology are starkly different across dimensions. We show that our findings are consistent with the previous literature on European public opinion, but correlate poorly with existing uni-dimensional measures of ideology that are not derived from survey data. Taken together, our findings suggest caution in applying uni-dimensional concepts to compare ideology across European countries and regions. Our measures of the mass public's ideology in Europe enable scholars to address a wide variety of substantive questions in comparative politics.

El cambio climático en la prensa europea: discurso editorial en "El País", "Le Monde", "The Guardian" y "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"

There is an unquestionable scientific consensus on climate change; however, the editorial stance of Europe’s leading mainstream media continue to give priority in their speeches to political, economic or social arguments against the soundness of scientific discourse that urge to take action. This paper discusses factors that influence, determine and ultimately distort the editorial stance of the four newspapers with more influence on European public opinion: El Pais, Le Monde, The Guardian and The Frankfurter Zeitung Allgemeinte. The analysis covers 14 years, from the Kyoto Protocol to Durban summit (19972011).

Local, National and Global Islam: Religious Guidance and European Muslim Public Opinion on Political Radicalism and Social Conservatism

The attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and Kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015, as well as the announcement of a ‘Caliphate’ by radical Islamists of the so-called ‘Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’ (ISIS) in 2014, reignited political and academic interest in the possible appeal of radical Islamism among young Muslims living in Western Europe. This analysis expands existing knowledge by adding a large-n, cross-national comparison to the small-n or single-case-study approaches dominating research on European Muslims over the last two decades. Moving beyond examination of the interaction between European governments and groups claiming to represent European Muslims, this analysis takes into account the individualisation of Muslim religious discourses, practices and identities. Binary logistic regression analyses challenge conventional wisdom which emphasises discrimination and rejection of Western foreign policies in the explanation of political radicalism. Instead, religious guidance and socio-economic status emerge as consistent correlates of political and social attitudes among West European Muslims. These findings not only add to a growing body of literature providing empirical evidence for the political impact of religious elites, they also have crucial policy implications for West European governments working to maintain national security and social cohesion.

The Application of Corporate Social Responsibility in European Agriculture

Abstract The aim of this article is to show that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be applied in agriculture as a sustainable development tool. This paper shows the connections between CSR and the Common Agricultural Policy; opinions on socially responsible agriculture expressed by EU citizens are mentioned, and the application of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility in agriculture is described. Both CSR and the Common Agricultural Policy are included in the Europe 2020 Strategy. Farmers should take the CSR concept into account when running their farms, a practice that would be welcomed by European citizens. Applying Corporate Social Responsibility in agriculture would contribute to improving the image of farmers as perceived by stakeholders, as well as bringing notable economic, social and environmental benefits. This article is based on the available literature and the results of European public opinion surveys.

Czech Public Opinion on Turkey's Accession to the EU: An Analysis through the Lenses of Sociological and Discursive Institutionalism*

While Turkey lacks significant levels of public support from the Czech Republic in its EU bid, the existing studies of European public opinion on the question of Turkey do not bring any reasonable explanation as to why this can be so. To shed light on this problem, this article offers an analytical framework derived from sociological and discursive institutionalism. First, it shows that the historical/cultural context in the Czech Republic has created an informal institution built around the norms of “othering” Muslim societies like Turkey (sociological institutionalism). Second, based on the media coverage of selected political issues from Turkey between 2005 and 2010, it argues that this institution both enables and constrains the “discursive ability” of the media in communicating these issues to its audience (discursive institutionalism). Since the media—as a political actor—mostly acts to maintain this institution and does not critically debate it, the public opinion of Turkey as the “cultural other” remains as a dominant perception. The official support of the political elite for Turkey's accession to the EU does not countervail the media influence, as this support is often not conveyed to the Czech public agenda.

Eastern and Western Perceptions on EU Aid in Light of the Arab Spring

The European Union welcomed the demonstrators’ demands wholeheartedly during the Arab Spring, trying to maximize the assistance that it could offer to support genuine democratic transition, at least at a rhetorical level. This article reflects on the changes in the neighborhood policy by focusing on public perceptions measured in Europe and in countries in close proximity to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. European views on solidarity are compared to local public opinion on EU involvement in the region. Recipient views in Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, and Israel are explored by analyzing relevant results of the Arab Barometer and Neighborhood Barometer surveys. Findings indicate that the Middle Eastern public opinion tends to appreciate the EU’s gestures with the exception of Egypt, but conditionality is more in line with European public opinion.

Spillovers and Euroscepticism

During the crisis, support for the EU has declined noticeably in many European Union member states. While previous research on European public opinion has mainly focused on the impact of domestic country- and individual-level factors on public attitudes towards the EU, this paper argues that developments in other EU member states can also have a significant impact on domestic euroscepticism. Specifically, deteriorating economic and fiscal conditions in other member states can lead to concerns in domestic publics about possible negative spillovers on the domestic economy and the ability of the EU to deliver positive economic outcomes. This in turn may lead to rising euroscepticism at the domestic level. The analysis of a panel data set for the EU as a whole and the euro area countries lends support to these arguments by showing that higher unemployment rates and government debt levels in other European countries are systematically related to lower levels of trust in the EU domestically.

The changing relationship between left–right ideology and euroscepticism, 1973–2010

How is euroscepticism related to left–right ideology in Western European public opinion? We argue that inconsistent findings on this relationship result from the changing nature of European integration over time. Initially, EU market integration mainly sparked left-wing opposition; after Maastricht the intensification of political integration additionally produced nationalist euroscepticism among the political right. Hence, we hypothesize that the relationship between citizens’ left–right ideology and euroscepticism evolved from linear to U-shaped. We test this hypothesis by means of multilevel logistic regression on 74 waves of the Eurobarometer (1973–2010) in 12 EU member states. The results demonstrate an increase of right-wing euroscepticism across countries, whereas the developments on the left are mixed. In the concluding section, we discuss the theoretical and political implications of these findings.

L’« orange de Jaffa » avant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Un fruit « palestinien » chargé de sens

The Shamouti orange or « the orange of Jaffa » cultivated by the Arabs of Palestine at the end of the Ottoman Era became, in the interwar years, the pillar of the pioneer agricultural economy of the Jews of Palestine, the very symbol of the feats of the Zionist movement and an ideologically seductive argument vis-à-vis European public opinion, in particular among Jews. It is this phenomenon of a fruit that represented for its producers both an economic trump card and an element of visibility and of political propaganda that is discussed in this article. How, in the first place, did the orange become by far the most important commercial culture of the Jews of Palestine? Furthermore, how did Jewish Palestine manage to make these oranges both a major export product for the community, as well as an argument in favor of the Zionist cause amongst European Jews? This last question will focused primarily on the French case.

The Devil's Wall: The Nationalist Youth Mission of Heinz Rutha by Mark Cornwall (review)

REVIEWS 915 Cornwall, Mark. The Devil’s Wall: The Nationalist Youth Mission of Heinz Rutha. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA and London, 2012. 352 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Select bibliography. Index. $39.95: £25.00: €36.00. Heinz Rutha was born in 1897, on Adolf Hitler’s eighth birthday. More important, he first saw the light of day within two weeks of the ‘Badeni decrees’, which required civil servants in the imperial Austrian crownlands of Bohemia and Moravia to know both German and Czech, and provoked German protests so vehement as to mark perhaps the beginning of the end for the multinational Habsburg Monarchy. After 1918, in the new Czechoslovak state, Rutha, a young veteran and repressed homosexual, dedicated himself to forging a new leadership for its German minority from young men united in erotic friendship. Drawing inspiration much less from Nazism than from the radically anti-liberal Austrian philosopher Othmar Spann, he founded the Kameradschaftsbund, or Comrades’ Union, which developed into a powerful cohort within the völkisch, ‘Sudeten’ subset of German politics outside Germany. In 1926, Rutha served as best man to another German from Northern Bohemia, Konrad Henlein. And between 1935 and 1937, as tensions between Czechoslovakia and Henlein’s Sudeten German movement escalated, Rutha served as his emissary abroad. Arrested in October 1937 for the crime of homosexuality, however, he escaped the confines of a Czechoslovak cell a month later by committing suicide. Mark Cornwall concludes his remarkably researched biography of Rutha by declaring that he died ‘on the twin altars of Sudeten German patriotism and homosexuality’ (p. 267). The Devil’s Wall rescues Rutha from an undeserved obscurity born of a now bygone taboo. Cornwall promises, and delivers, fresh perspectives on the internaldynamicsoftheSudetenGermanmovement,aswellasoninternational dimensions to the Czech-German conflict after 1933. Confirming the nuance of Ronald Smelser’s pathbreaking study, The Sudeten Problem (Middletown, CT, 1975), Cornwall demonstrates disunity among völkisch leaders in Czechoslovakia, with Rutha perhaps the least extreme and Henlein somewhere in the middle, but lurching toward the Sudeten Nazis. Pushing against a tradition of reading Sudeten German appeals to West European public opinion as nothing but a fig leaf atop a treacherous irredentism, Cornwall argues that Rutha was ‘sincere over the righteousness of the Sudeten cause’ (p. 233). In 1935 and even somewhat later, Rutha and others in Henlein’s inner circle assessed the international framework in ‘conservative, pragmatic terms’, hoping at best for a ‘domestic revolution within Czechoslovakia’ (p. 184). Diplomats, of course, often equate sincerity with naivety. And using ‘conservative’ to describe revolutionaries begs a question: conservative compared to what? Perhaps the most riveting chapters stretch from the Great War to about 1933. Drawing on a long-lost diary that Rutha kept for half of 1918, Cornwall SEER, 91, 4, OCTOBER 2013 916 captures the anxieties of a lower-middle-class Catholic at the age of twenty-one as he experienced not only combat and political catastrophe but attraction to fellow men. Over the following several years, Rutha discovered his life mission: leading male adolescents in a militantly nationalist pedagogic crusade to which he could sublimate his sexual insecurities and desires. In the late 1920s came a personal crisis, despair over having found no ‘son and friend for life’ (Rutha’s own words, p. 146) to nurture as his successor. ‘For me,’ Rutha declared in a never sent letter, the Sudeten state idea ‘comes alive and grows only where a young man loves me’ (p. 142). In 1932, it seems, he began to initiate ‘mutual gratification’ (p. 148) with disciples, including one who was only fifteen years old. As the Depression and the Nazi seizure of power in Germany broke open locked doors for Sudeten Germans, Rutha sowed the seeds of his own destruction. Cornwall sees ‘interesting parallels’ (p. 241) between the persecution of homosexuals in the Czechoslovak Republic and in the Third Reich. Yet one and the same discriminatory intent should not obscure the difference made by liberal safeguards in Czechoslovakia such as due process and independence of the judiciary. And to state that Rutha’s ‘sexual and nationalist “deviances” increasingly left him exposed to enemies who wanted to assert “normality”’ (p. 9) seems to miss fundamental...

With or Without Force: European Public Opinion on Democracy Promotion

Against the background of the ongoing debate around European democracy promotion, we investigate the impact of European citizens’ socio-economic backgrounds, political orientations and countries of origin on their support for democracy promotion in general and on democracy promotion via military means. Analysing survey data from 11 European Union (EU) member countries, we show that citizens with more extreme political orientations are less likely to support general democracy promotion. In contrast, particularly those citizens with extreme rightist orientations are more likely to support democracy promotion via military means. Regarding the impact of socio-economic background variables, higher education and working skills are positively associated with democracy promotion in general but make citizens less likely to support democracy promotion via military means. Finally, even if the majority of Europeans do not support democracy promotion via military means, the heterogeneity of country effects suggests that the assumption of a common European identity regarding democracy promotion needs to be refined.

The Europeanization of Balkans−Yes or No

Should the Balkan be place where the credibility of European Union will happen? This question is becoming increasingly evident after the rejection of the EU constitution by France and the Netherlands in the middle of 2005 which is mostly resulted by dissatisfaction of voters of the internal political governing in their countries. This conclusion was further created by created mediumistic reality for Euro integrated processes of the aspirant and candidate countries for their membership through one longer period of creation of public opinion (mostly intensive from 2003-2005). What have mediumistic forecasts show for the Europeanization of the Balkans? Controversy about the expansion of the Union have been treated by a media content that the international and domestic public channelled the European public opinion through several dimensions of influence. First, on the local mediumistic scene, the European public opinion, is firstly manifested more as an ideology, less as a rational strategic preference for the creation of European values through reforms in all segments of social-political, economic and cultural life. In those frames, the media have created a framework for the creation of collective memory of Euro integrations, Euro-consciousness to integrate in the normative collective , economic, social and institutional system whose cultured common denominator are the new social relationships, and politics of influences between EU and countries out of EU The concept of integration and inclusion is idealized to the extent which ii itself negates the concept of exclusion and marginalization. All this is in contradiction with some postmodern theories that suggest some of the possible changes of transitional societies. Here could be included destruction, that is the collapse of old institutions and especially the actual questions regarding the process of fragmentation of the society to micro-social units, that is, to small parallel worlds and their adjustment. Atomization of societies, which would result as possibility of conflicting new changes, would lose the social dimension, and in the enter of attention are individuals that with their free rational mind will be faced with a wild-takings power.

The Migration-Security Nexus in Short: Instruments and Actions in the European Union

In early 2011, the so-called 'Arab spring' opened a new period of change, expectations and challenges in several North African countries. Despite of the democratic processes started in that countries, to important sectors of European media and public opinion, it seemed that Arab riots had mainly become another push factor for irregular migration to the European Union. Furthermore, the crisis management of Tunisian migrants arriving to Italy, stressed the European system of free movement of people in the Schengen area in an unthinkable way just few weeks before.The aim of this paper is not to analyze the consequences of these events, neither in the Arab world nor in the Schengen performance. The main objective is to analyze the establishment of this migration-security nexus at the European level, and to examine how the EU deals with the security issue in relation with migration.

Population Aging and Intergenerational Solidarity: International Policy Frameworks and European Public Opinion

The population aging challenges facing the European Union countries have been articulated in two ways: the financial sustainability of public welfare systems and the adequacy of retirement incomes and social services. The ideas underlying social sustainability, though less clearly defined, encompass not just both of these challenges but also address the need to ensure intergenerational solidarity, formally or informally, in countries experiencing aging populations. This paper identifies policy challenges put forward by the United Nations and by the European Union regarding that need while also reporting on the opinions of European citizens on various aspects of intergenerational solidarity.

Social Policy in the European Public Opinion: An Implicit Contract between State and Society

Using the cross-country ESS (2008) data file, the author explores welfare attitudes of population of European countries, the demand for social policy, the willingness to participate in its financing, and the difference between these two parameters. The paper argues that expectations associated with social policy and willingness to accept higher taxation in order to receive more benefits as well as the gap between these two depend on institutional characteristics of the countries that constitute the factors of fiscal illusion. Poor institutions and the lack of transparency in fiscal and social policies feed corruption and fiscal illusion, therefore generating misperceptions and free rider behavior.

Turcoscepticism and Threat Perception: European Public and Elite Opinion on Turkey's Protracted EU Membership

This article examines the political debate surrounding Turkey's protracted accession to the European Union (EU) from the viewpoints of mass and elite opinion in Europe, focusing on the impact of Islamophobia and the fears about immigration. It investigates how threat perception reflects itself in the form of Turcoscepticism. It concerns itself with (i) whether Turcoscepticism is based on perceived threats of Islamic extremism or immigration influxes, and (ii) how these perceived threats affect public and elite attitudes towards Turkey's EU membership. Through a quantitative investigation of public and elite polling data (2006–08), the analysis reveals that Islamophobia and fear of immigration contribute to Turcosceptic anxiety in Europe only at the mass level.

Public perceptions of CCS: Emergent themes in pan-European focus groups and implications for communications

This paper reports on European public perceptions of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as determined through six focus groups, one held in each of the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Belgium and Spain. The development of opinion and the emergence of concerns were observed via phased exposure to a specially commissioned film providing an overview of CCS technology, its rationale and associated debates, supplemented by additional information on national energy mixes. In general there was a high level of commonality in opinion and concerns across the six countries, with only minor differences. The concerns that emerged were not allayed by the information provided. On the contrary, there was evidence of a shift from initial uncertainty about CCS to negative positions. CCS was generally perceived as an uncertain, end-of-pipe technology that will perpetuate fossil-fuel dependence. Noting the political context to CCS, we conclude that advocates will likely find the European public opinion context a challenging one in which to achieve deployment, particularly for onshore storage, except where local communities perceive real economic or other benefits to CCS.

European Union Enlargement and British Public Opinion: The Agenda-Setting Power of the Press

While the British government was strongly in favour of the 2004 European Union (EU) enlargement, British public opinion was predominantly against it. Being conducted under the theoretical umbrella of agenda-setting research, this article scrutinizes the print media coverage of EU enlargement between 2002 and 2004 to account for the gap between public opinion and official policy. It combines quantitative content analysis of coverage in a number of leading British newspapers with Eurobarometer public opinion data. After revealing strong evidence for the transfer of issue salience from media to public, it examines the role of the press in shaping public attitudes toward enlargement. The results not only provide an improved understanding of media effects in the British context but also have profound implications for the ‘democratic deficit’ debate in the EU.

The Anti–systemness of the Protest Parties

Last decades of the past century, as well as the current one, may be characterized by the increase of political role of the movements that are called “the protest parties.” Scholars, journalists and politicians put a lot of attention to that phenomenon. However, it is focused just on selected elements of the problem. Beginning from the 1980s European public opinion may observe the rise and development of groups of ecologists. The unexpected electoral success of the new type of party is called “the New Populism.” Back in the 1990s it caused many concerns, opinions and discussions on the issue whether such parties are harmful for modern and stabilized western European democracies. At the turn of the century the political scene has been dominated by new forms of activity, which are the anti-globalization and alternative globalization movements.

The biofuel connection – transnational activism and the palm oil boom

The 10 percent mandatory target for ‘renewable energy’ adopted by the European Parliament in December 2008 is fuelling a frenzy of investment in palm oil across Southeast Asia, leading in turn to the emergence of new, transnational campaign alliances. The specific dynamics of alliance building, political strategies and impacts of palm oil activism are shaped by the key role of the Indonesian environmental and agrarian justice movement, the broadening and radicalisation of groups in Europe and the ways in which these are interconnected by transnational activists. Campaigning has been successful in creating a transnational political debate around palm oil and biofuels and in influencing public opinion in Europe. Peasant activists have played an important role by combining issues of biodiversity and climate change with food sovereignty and by embedding the critique of biofuels within the global movement for climate justice. However, discontented palm oil smallholders and plantation workers are conspicuously absent at the transnational level. Building alliances between agrarian movements and plantation workers could strengthen the movement against biofuels by tapping into the potential offered by the transnational social and economic spaces which characterise the palm oil industry.