Attitudes towards Europe beyond Euroscepticism. Supporting the European Union through the crisis

Contents:

1. Beyond Euroscepticism: A multidimensional perspective
- Citizens and their feelings toward political institutions: a crucial bond
- Defining attitudes toward Europe
- From Euroscepticism to support for Europe: a multidimensional perspective
- Dimensions of support for Europe: the Eastonian framework
- Findings and conclusions

2. Sources of opposition toward Europe: Issue saliency and specific support
- Explanatory factors for support and opposition toward Europe
- Focusing on specific support for Europe
- Issue saliency and specific support: hypotheses of research
- Data and method
- Evidence
- Conclusions and theoretical implications

3. The impact of 'external' shocks on attitudes toward Europe: The current economic crisis
- Does the crisis affect support? An open question
- Issue saliency, pessimism and opposition: assessing the relationship
- Concern for the economic crisis and opposition toward Europe: testing the relationship
- Concern for the economic situation and voting in European Parliamentary elections

This book addresses the topic of EU legitimacy by exploring the forms, origins and effects of citizens' support to EU institutions. Through examining the wide-ranging levels of support, the authors show how these multi-faceted attitudes cast shade on the outdated, somewhat one-dimensional concept of Euroscepticism. They not only observe how political issues and the economic crisis affect public opinion, but also demonstrate how national contexts play a crucial role in shaping attitudes towards Europe at any level of support.

The volume shows how the lack of accountability in the EU system makes it increasingly vulnerable to the negative effects of economic and societal shocks, and how the 'national lens' that we view the EU through influences our voting choices.

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