Rising Euroscepticism, increasing levels of public disagreement and growing divisions on Europe both within and between political parties are all indicators of the emergent potential for contestation on Europe. This article seeks to identify whether two important elements of contestation on...

Recent studies have shown that the most important factor explaining opinions on European Union issues is attitudes towards immigrants. Two arguments are given to explain this effect. We contend that these arguments are both built on the idea that people with anti-immigrant attitudes frame other...

The European Union (EU) is assumed to suffer from a democratic deficit. It is often posited that in the EU there is only a weak and indirect connection between public preferences and policy change. This article investigates empirically whether any relationship exists between public support for...

Public attitudes towards the European Union (EU) are at the heart of a growing body of research. The nature, structure and antecedents of these attitudes, however, are in need of conceptual and empirical refinement. With growing diversification of the policies of the Union, a one-dimensional...

Mass opposition to Europe may stem from mainstream as well as formally Euroskeptic parties. Large parties in the member states of the European Union (EU) tend to combine support for Europe with a high level of intra-party dissent over the issue. Thus, these parties provide heterogeneous yet...

We attempt to further the `normal' study of public opinion in the European Union (EU) by examining the relationship of gender to attitudes toward integration. Using Eurobarometer 42 we demonstrate that a modest gender gap exists, with women being less enthusiastic about the EU than men. We then...

Recent scholarship has emphasized the importance of concepts rooted in social identity for understanding citizen attitudes towards the European Union (EU). This article builds upon prior research by developing an argument that authoritarians are more likely to oppose the EU and to hold...

This article investigates citizen support for welfare provisions, where these can be provided at both the national and the EU level. The guiding question is whether welfare provisions at one level dampen, increase or have little effect on support for assistance at the other level. Analysis of...

Which combinations of values and perceptions constitute the arguments in the debate on European integration? Using survey data from Norway's 1994 EU referendum, this article explores Norwegian voters' support for these arguments. Thus, the article highlights the perceptions and arguments of the...

Using public approval for the President of the European Commission as an example, we investigate whether there are economic effects on public support for political authority: (1) when democratic accountability is absent; and (2) when public information about authorities is low. We find that...