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

Authority transfer or membership conflict? Explaining politicization of European integration in public debates on major integration steps

Grande, Edgar and Hutter, Swen (2015) Authority transfer or membership conflict? Explaining politicization of European integration in public debates on major integration steps. [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

[img] PDF - Submitted Version
Download (603Kb)

    Abstract

    While there is increasing evidence that European integration has been politicized, knowledge on the driving forces of this process is still limited. In this paper, we contribute to this research by examining the importance of authority transfers to the EU as drivers of politicization. It innovates in two ways: First, we extend the authority transfer argument by highlighting the mobilizing power of membership conflicts; and, second, we analyze the relevance of national opportunity structures, referenda in particular, and actors’ mobilizing strategies for politicization. Our findings show that the authority transfer argument needs to be extended and integrated into a broader framework of political conflict. Empirically, we trace politicization in public debates on every integration step (treaty reforms and enlargement) from the 1970s to the late 2000s in six West European countries (France, Germany, Britain, Austria, Sweden, and Switzerland) based on a relational content analysis of newspaper coverage.

    Export/Citation:EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII (Chicago style) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
    Social Networking:
    Item Type: Conference Proceedings
    Subjects for non-EU documents: Countries > Austria
    Countries > France
    Countries > Germany
    Countries > Sweden
    Countries > Switzerland
    Countries > U.K.
    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 > 2015 (14th), March 4-7, 2015
    Depositing User: Phil Wilkin
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 29 Nov 2018 08:37
    Number of Pages: 33
    Last Modified: 29 Nov 2018 08:37
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/79026

    Actions (login required)

    View Item

    Document Downloads