Contesting Europe, contesting identity? An empirical study of party positioning on national and European identity, 1979-2009

Bergbauer, Stephanie (2011) Contesting Europe, contesting identity? An empirical study of party positioning on national and European identity, 1979-2009. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

As the EU’s political powers expand, so do concerns about its impact on the traditions and identities of the member states. The prediction is that parties will try to capitalize on such concerns and compete over this cultural dimension of European integration. Collective identities will become decisive if and when political parties cue voters to perceive national identities as incompatible with European integration. Yet most extant research focuses on the effects of parties’ general stance toward European integration, while the specific content of partisan massages remains unexplored; in consequence, we know little about if and how parties deliberately mobilise collective identities for or against European integration. By disaggregating party positions on Europe, this paper seeks to explore more closely to what extent parties appeal to national and European identities. Drawing on party manifesto data from the Euromanifestos Project (EMP), I examine the salience and determinants of national and European identity mobilization by national political parties in the EU 15 over the period 1979-2009. The empirical analysis finds only little evidence for an increase in the salience of national and European identity mobilization with on-going EU integration. Patterns of identity mobilization are shown to vary as a function of parties’ ideological positions and political opportunities.

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