IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eeupol/v8y2007i2p251-278.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explaining Opposition to Turkish Membership of the EU

Author

Listed:
  • Lauren M. McLaren

    (University of Nottingham, UK, lauren.mclaren@nottingham.ac.uk)

Abstract

This article examines EU citizen attitudes to Turkey's bid to join the EU. The key theoretical constructs investigated to explain opposition to Turkey's EU membership are related to rational economic self-interest and group-level interests and concerns. The findings indicate that the former are irrelevant for distinguishing between opponents and supporters of Turkey's candidacy, while the latter do provide fairly powerful explanations for opposition to Turkish EU membership. However, because these factors do not completely explain overall levels of hostility to Turkey's candidacy, context is also introduced, particularly the threatening context provided by Turkish migration. The findings indicate that migration from Turkey to some of the EU member states has combined with feelings of group protectiveness to produce widespread animosity to Turkey's entry into the EU.

Suggested Citation

  • Lauren M. McLaren, 2007. "Explaining Opposition to Turkish Membership of the EU," European Union Politics, , vol. 8(2), pages 251-278, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:8:y:2007:i:2:p:251-278
    DOI: 10.1177/1465116507076432
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1465116507076432
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1465116507076432?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giles, Micheal W. & Hertz, Kaenan, 1994. "Racial Threat and Partisan Identification," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(2), pages 317-326, June.
    2. Sniderman, Paul M. & Hagendoorn, Louk & Prior, Markus, 2004. "Predisposing Factors and Situational Triggers: Exclusionary Reactions to Immigrant Minorities," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 98(1), pages 35-49, February.
    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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Risse, 2014. "No Demos? Identities and Public Spheres in the Euro Crisis," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(6), pages 1207-1215, November.
    2. Ivlevs, Artjoms & King, Roswitha M., 2019. "To Europe or Not to Europe? Migration and Public Support for Joining the European Union in the Western Balkans," IZA Discussion Papers 12254, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Cengiz Erisen & Elif Erisen, 2014. "Attitudinal Ambivalence towards Turkey's EU Membership," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 217-233, March.
    4. Thomas Risse, 2013. "Solidarität unter Fremden? Europäische Identität im Härtetest," KFG Working Papers p0050, Free University Berlin.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marcel Lubbers & Eva Jaspers, 2011. "A longitudinal study of euroscepticism in the Netherlands: 2008 versus 1990," European Union Politics, , vol. 12(1), pages 21-40, March.
    2. Harald Schoen, 2008. "Identity, Instrumental Self-Interest and Institutional Evaluations," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(1), pages 5-29, March.
    3. Claes H. de Vreese & Hajo G. Boomgaarden & Holli A. Semetko, 2008. "Hard and Soft," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(4), pages 511-530, December.
    4. Aaron J. Abbarno & Galina M. Zapryanova, 2013. "Indirect Effects of Eurosceptic Messages on Citizen Attitudes toward Domestic Politics," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 581-597, July.
    5. Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks, 2005. "Calculation, Community and Cues," European Union Politics, , vol. 6(4), pages 419-443, December.
    6. Marcel Lubbers, 2008. "Regarding the Dutch `Nee' to the European Constitution," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(1), pages 59-86, March.
    7. Julian Aichholzer & Sylvia Kritzinger & Carolina Plescia, 2021. "National identity profiles and support for the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(2), pages 293-315, June.
    8. Daniele, Gianmarco & Geys, Benny, 2012. "Public support for institutionalised solidarity: Europeans' reaction to the establishment of eurobonds," Discussion Papers, Research Professorship & Project "The Future of Fiscal Federalism" SP II 2012-112, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    9. Soetkin Verhaegen & Marc Hooghe & Ellen Quintelier, 2014. "European Identity and Support for European Integration: A Matter of Perceived Economic Benefits?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 295-314, May.
    10. Jonathan Knuckey & Myunghee Kim, 2020. "The Politics of White Racial Identity and Vote Choice in the 2018 Midterm Elections," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1584-1599, July.
    11. Judith L. Goldstein & Margaret E. Peters, 2014. "Nativism or Economic Threat: Attitudes Toward Immigrants During the Great Recession," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 376-401, May.
    12. Kristel Jacquier, 2015. "Public support for the economic governance of the euro zone: empirical evidence from the debt crisis," Post-Print halshs-01222511, HAL.
    13. Matthew Loveless, 2010. "Agreeing in Principle: Utilitarianism and Economic Values as Support for the European Union in Central and Eastern Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 1083-1106, September.
    14. Adam William Chalmers & Lisa Maria Dellmuth, 2015. "Fiscal redistribution and public support for European integration," European Union Politics, , vol. 16(3), pages 386-407, September.
    15. Bachtrögler, Julia & Oberhofer, Harald, 2018. "Euroscepticism and EU Cohesion Policy: The Impact of Micro-Level Policy Effectiveness on Voting Behavior," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 273, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    16. Costa-Font, Joan & Ljunge, Martin, 2023. "Ideological spillovers across the Atlantic? Evidence from Trump's presidential election," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    17. Pierre-Guillaume Meon, 2009. "Voting and turning out for monetary integration: the case of the French referendum on the Maastricht treaty," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(18), pages 2369-2384.
    18. Alberto Alesina & Marco Tabellini, 2024. "The Political Effects of Immigration: Culture or Economics?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 5-46, March.
    19. Brent F. Nelsen & James L. Guth, 2020. "Losing Faith: Religion and Attitudes toward the European Union in Uncertain Times," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 909-924, July.
    20. Esteve, Patrícia & Theilen, Bernd, 1965-, 2014. "European Integration: Partisan Motives or Economic Benefits?," Working Papers 2072/225297, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:8:y:2007:i:2:p:251-278. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.