Link to the University of Pittsburgh
Link to the University Library SystemContact us link
AEI Banner

"Citizen Support for the European Parliament: Knowledge and the Democratic Deficit"

Flickinger, Richard S. and Bennett, Linda L.M. and Bennett, Stephen E. (1995) "Citizen Support for the European Parliament: Knowledge and the Democratic Deficit". In: UNSPECIFIED, Charleston, South Carolina. (Unpublished)

[img]
Preview
PDF
Download (92Kb) | Preview

    Abstract

    Our paper is concerned with citizens' knowledge of European institutions and decision processes, and how that knowledge is related to expressed levels of citizen support for the European Parliament (EP). Prior research on the causes of political information and sophistication suggests that basically three factors affect political awareness: cognitive ability, opportunity, and motivation. Those with more "cognitive ability," whether measured in terms of formal schooling or "intelligence," are better informed about politics than those with less. People with greater opportunity to acquire political information, usually because they are better situated within the social structure and/or because they are exposed to more information flowing through media channels, typically know more about politics than those less favorably located. Finally, the more people are motivated to learn, the more they know. Working from this base of understanding we have developed two models. The first attempts to predict citizen knowledge of the European Union. The second attempts to predict citizen support for the European Parliament.

    Export/Citation:EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII (Chicago style) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
    Social Networking:
    Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
    Subjects for non-EU documents: EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > political affairs > democracy/democratic deficit
    EU policies and themes > EU institutions & developments > European Parliament
    EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > political affairs > public opinion
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Conference: European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 1995 (4th), May 11-14, 1995
    Depositing User: Phil Wilkin
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 14 Apr 2007
    Page Range: p. 15
    Last Modified: 15 Feb 2011 17:45
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/6928

    Actions (login required)

    View Item

    Document Downloads