Theresa Kuhn

Why Educational Exchange Programmes Miss Their Mark: Cross‐Border Mobility, Education and European Identity

Current research shows that participating in an Erasmus exchange does not strengthen European identity. However, this does not necessarily imply that transnational interactions are ineffective in fostering European identity. Rather, the Erasmus programme misses its mark by addressing university students who are already very likely to feel European. Due to a ceiling effect, their experience abroad cannot make a difference. In contrast, low‐educated individuals who might respond strongly to cross‐border mobility by adopting a European identity hardly participate in educational exchange because they leave school before these programmes take place. Analyses of Eurobarometer survey data support this hypothesis.

Euroscepticism and education: A longitudinal study of 12 EU member states, 1973–2010:

This study examines the relationship between educational attainment and euroscepticism from 1973 to 2010. Existing research has shown that, driven by utilitarian considerations, political cues and questions of collective identity, education and euroscepticism are negatively related. However, as the process of European unification has progressed, all three factors have become more salient, so we expect an increasing effect of education on euroscepticism over time. Using 81 waves of the Eurobarometer survey in 12 European Union (EU) member states, our results show that the impact of education on euroscepticism has indeed increased, particularly after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty.

Europa ante portas: Border residence, transnational interaction and Euroscepticism in Germany and France

This article builds on previous findings that border residents are less prone to be Eurosceptic. First, it enhances measurement by using a more exact distinction between border and core districts. Second, it extends theory by arguing that the lower propensity towards Euroscepticism among border residents is the result of their greater involvement in transnational networks and interactions. Third, the article adds to the interest-or-identity discussion in Euroscepticism research by distinguishing between goal-oriented and sociable forms of transnational interactions and testing their impact on Euroscepticism. Multilevel analyses of Eurobarometer data for France and Germany show that (1) the border effect holds only in Germany, (2) it is mediated by individual transnationalism, and (3) sociable forms of interaction are key to structuring attitudes towards European integration.

Practising what you preach: how cosmopolitanism promotes willingness to redistribute across the European Union

ABSTRACT The political fault lines surrounding the European sovereign debt crisis have underlined the political relevance and the fragile foundation of public support for international redistribution in the European Union. Against the backdrop of an emerging political integration-demarcation divide, this contribution examines how cosmopolitanism structures people’s willingness to redistribute internationally within the European Union. To this aim, we conducted laboratory experiments on redistributive behaviour towards other European citizens in the United Kingdom and Germany and analysed cross-national survey data on support for international redistribution covering the EU-28. Our findings suggest that cosmopolitanism increases generosity towards other Europeans and support for international redistribution even when controlling for self-interest, support for national redistribution, concern for others and political ideology.

What Explains Increasing Euroscepticism in Switzerland? A Longitudinal Analysis

Since just over half of the Swiss voters decided not to join the European Economic Area in 1992, public opinion on the European Union (EU) has consistently become more critical in Switzerland. While macro factors such as the 2008 economic crisis undoubtedly played a role, examining changes within individuals sheds light on why Swiss citizens changed their mind at some point in their life course. Based on previous literature, we predict that both economic and political factors play a role in shaping Swiss citizens’ (un)willingness to join the EU. In contrast to most studies that compare attitudes between individuals, we go a step further and examine how changes within individuals affect changes in attitudes toward the EU. Our analyses of SHP data (1999–2014) show that, in line with previous studies, citizens with a higher social status (e.g., higher education) are more likely to support joining the EU while those holding right-wing values are less likely to do so. When analysing changes within individuals however, we find that above all, changes in political attitudes (e.g., increasingly right-wing, less interest in politics) result in less support for Switzerland joining the EU.

Granting immigrants access to social benefits? How self-interest influences support for welfare state restrictiveness

In the context of large-scale migration within and into Europe, the question of whether and under which conditions immigrants should be granted access to social benefits in the country of destination is of high political relevance. A large body of research has studied natives’ attitudes towards giving immigrants access to the welfare state, while research on attitudes of immigrants themselves is scarce. Focusing on the impact of self-interest, we compare immigrants and native citizens in their attitudes towards granting immigrants access to the welfare state. We identify three mechanisms through which self-interest can influence these attitudes: immigrant origin, socio-economic status and – for first-generation immigrants only – incorporation into the host society. We test our expectations using cross-national data from the European Social Survey round 2008. The findings suggest that self-interest is indeed one of the factors that motivate attitudes towards welfare state restrictiveness among natives and immigrants, but also point at relevant exceptions to this pattern.

The Europeanization of National Polities? Citizenship and Support in a Post-Enlargement Union

not very up to date. Most data tables end in 2000. There is also a tendency to uncritically compare the Portuguese system of industrial relations to more advanced economies. In Chapter 7 André Freire analyses and compares voting behaviour in the European elections and national elections. One problem with the chapter is that the aggregate data do not give a more concrete qualitative picture of what really is happening in European Parliament elections. In Chapter 8 Pedro Magalhães analyses the support for European integration among the Portuguese population. In the end, the chapter just describes statistically whether various common theories help to explain Portuguese support for European integration. Last but not least, the chapter by Maarten Peter Vink from the University of Maastricht is an excellent critique of the individual chapters. Vink is interested in finding out if Europeanisation and democratisation influenced each other positively, or actually led to tensions. Vink problematises issues like modernisation or structural change and clearly is very knowledgeable about Portuguese society and politics. His critical view compensates partly for the lack of a theoretical framework of analysis at the beginning of the book and uncritical analysis of the country by many of its authors, apart from the positive example of Carlos Jalali in Chapter 3.