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The Macroeconomic Factors Conditioning the Impact of Identity on Attitudes towards the EU

Author

Listed:
  • John Garry

    (Queen's University Belfast, UK, j.garry@qub.ac.uk)

  • James Tilley

    (University of Oxford, UK, james.tilley@politics.ox.ac.uk)

Abstract

Factors relating to identity and to economics have been shown to be important predictors of attitudes towards the European Union (EU). In this article, we show that the impact of identity is conditional on economic context. First, living in a member state that receives relatively high levels of EU funding acts as a ‘buffer’, diluting the impact of an exclusive national identity on Euroscepticism. Second, living in a relatively wealthy member state, with its associated attractiveness for economic migrants, increases the salience of economic xenophobia as a driver of sceptical attitudes. These results highlight the importance of seeing theories of attitude formation (such as economic and identity theories) not as competitors but rather as complementary, with the predictive strength of one theoretical approach (identity) being a function of system-level variation in factors relating to the other theoretical approach (macro-level economic conditions).

Suggested Citation

  • John Garry & James Tilley, 2009. "The Macroeconomic Factors Conditioning the Impact of Identity on Attitudes towards the EU," European Union Politics, , vol. 10(3), pages 361-379, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:10:y:2009:i:3:p:361-379
    DOI: 10.1177/1465116509337829
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anetta Caplanova & Marta Orviska & John Hudson, 2004. "Eastern European Attitudes to Integration with Western Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 271-288, June.
    2. World Bank, 2006. "World Development Indicators 2006," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 8151.
    3. Eichenberg, Richard C. & Dalton, Russell J., 1993. "Europeans and the European Community: the dynamics of public support for European integration," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(4), pages 507-534, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Margarete Scherer, 2015. "The Religious Context in Explaining Public Support for the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 893-909, July.
    2. Dolls, Mathias, 2024. "An unemployment re-insurance scheme for the eurozone? Stabilizing and redistributive effects," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    3. Dirk Leuffen & Thomas Malang & Sebastian Wörle, 2014. "Structure, Capacity or Power? Explaining Salience in EU Decision-Making," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 616-631, May.
    4. Lechler, Marie, 2018. "Employment Shocks and anti-EU Sentiment," Discussion Papers in Economics 49414, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    5. Sarah Ciaglia & Clemens Fuest & Friedrich Heinemann, 2018. "What a feeling?! How to promote ‘European Identity’," EconPol Policy Reports 9, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    6. Hobolt, Sara B. & Wratil, Christopher, 2015. "Public opinion and the crisis: the dynamics of support for the euro," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60788, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Monika Bartkowska & Guido Tiemann, 2015. "The Impact of Economic Perceptions on Voting Behaviour in European Parliamentary Elections," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 201-217, March.
    8. Lechler, Marie, 2019. "Employment shocks and anti-EU sentiment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 266-295.

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