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Getting Globalization Right pp 89–117Cite as

On the Sources of Political Discontent in Europe

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Abstract

We explore the pattern and sources of discontent when it comes to both the European Union and national governments in Europe in 2006 and 2014. We find that dissatisfaction with the state of the economy primarily affects the level of dissatisfaction with national governments, while unemployment and fear of immigration affects attitudes towards further European integration in 2014.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a review of the literature on populism, see Mudde and Katwesser (2017).

  2. 2.

    A Special Eurobarometer survey that was conducted in 2016 in the 28 Member States of the European Union gives an indication of how respondents perceive the EU. When asked about what they perceive to be the main assets of the European Union, respondents were most likely to mention its economic, industrial, and trading power and its respect for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law (both 33%). The main challenges for the EU were perceived to be unemployment (45%), social inequalities, migration issues (both 36%), and terrorism and security issues (31%).

  3. 3.

    See many statements by Donald Trump on NAFTA.

  4. 4.

    Belgium (be), Denmark (de), Estonia (est), Finland (fi), France (fr), Germany (ge), Hungary (hu), Ireland (ir), the Netherlands (ne), Poland (pol), Portugal (po), Slovenia (slo), Spain (sp), Sweden (sw), and the UK (uk).

  5. 5.

    See http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/.

  6. 6.

    See Table 6 on the definition of variables.

  7. 7.

    These individuals may have memories of their countries being outside the European Union and may be more culturally conservative.

  8. 8.

    We include both variables because each measures the share of respondents with the most extreme views opposing or favoring immigration.

  9. 9.

    There are nine exceptions where GDP has fallen; they are in Spain, Portugal, and the UK. Those in the UK are the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside, the West Midlands, the East of England, and Northern Ireland. The first for voted for Brexit in the June referendum.

  10. 10.

    The share of respondents who are opposed to the immigration from poor countries outside the European Union did not have a significant effect on the dependent variable and was omitted from Table 4.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the University of Iceland Research Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Iceland, Saemundargata 2, Reykjavik, Iceland

    David Freyr Bjornsson & Gylfi Zoega

  2. Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London, wc2e 7hx, UK

    Gylfi Zoega

Authors
  1. David Freyr Bjornsson
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  2. Gylfi Zoega
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gylfi Zoega .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. FUET, Economics Foundation, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

    Luigi Paganetto

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 6 and 7.

Table 6 European social survey (ESS 2006, 2014)
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Table 7 Eurostat
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Bjornsson, D.F., Zoega, G. (2018). On the Sources of Political Discontent in Europe. In: Paganetto, L. (eds) Getting Globalization Right. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97692-1_5

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