Abstract
This chapter looks at what EU citizens think about the EU. The structure of social divisions within and between the EU member states provides a strategic environment, in which politicians at the national and European levels compete for electoral support and political legitimacy. Understanding public opinion towards European integration is hence essential to understand the constraints on the further institutional integration of the political system as well as the nature of political competition in the EU policy-making process.
Theories of the social bases of politics
Mass support for the European Union
More or less integration: ‘Europe — right or wrong?’
What the EU should do: ‘Europe — right or left?’
The electoral connection: strategic dilemmas for Euro-elites
Conclusion: a politicized plural society
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© 1999 Simon Hix
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Hix, S. (1999). Public Opinion and Political Cleavages. In: The Political System of the European Union. The European Union Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27531-1_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27531-1_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-71654-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-27531-1
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