Following the Crowd or Developing a Thicker Skin? Assessing the impact of politicization on the attitudes of Commission officials

Bes, Bart Joachim (2015) Following the Crowd or Developing a Thicker Skin? Assessing the impact of politicization on the attitudes of Commission officials. [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

This paper investigates how Commission officials’ attitudes on supranationalism are affected by the politicization of the European Union (EU) within their home countries. Building on a norm-guided open system approach, I theorize that concerns about the legitimacy of their organization leads Commission officials to be responsive to politicization. However, the attitudinal impact of the EU politicization appears moderated by cultural background. Officials from Protestant and egalitarian societies are pulled towards intergovernmentalism in response to critical voices in their societies, whereas officials from Catholic and hierarchical societies defend supranationalism in response to politicization in their societies.

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