Dataset Information

Managing constraint: frugal opposition to European fiscal solidarity.

ABSTRACT: The management of the COVID-19 crisis and, in particular, the Next Generation EU fund have shown that European leaders can find integrationist policy solutions despite increasing politicisation at home where democratic constraints may lead to a feared 'multilevel politics trap'. Therefore, we ask whether and how national governments can manage such constraints and thus spring or avoid the trap. Theoretically, we argue that the agency of governments is a crucial factor for understanding the varying dynamics of politicisation in regional integration, as governments can raise or lower domestic audience costs by strategically interacting with their parliament or media. Empirically, we probe the plausibility of our theoretical propositions by examining constraint management and position-taking in Austria and the Netherlands in the context of European fiscal solidarity. Our results show that there is no inevitably self-reinforcing multilevel politics trap but that the effects of domestic constraint are, to a considerable extent, contingent on the agency of national governments.

SUBMITTER: Bokhorst D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11371260 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Managing constraint: frugal opposition to European fiscal solidarity.

Bokhorst David D Schoeller Magnus G MG

Journal of European public policy 20240324 10

The management of the COVID-19 crisis and, in particular, the Next Generation EU fund have shown that European leaders can find integrationist policy solutions despite increasing politicisation at home where democratic constraints may lead to a feared 'multilevel politics trap'. Therefore, we ask whether and how national governments can manage such constraints and thus spring or avoid the trap. Theoretically, we argue that the agency of governments is a crucial factor for understanding the varyi ...[more]

PMID: 39234335

Similar Datasets

Project description:COVID-19 created profound shockwaves across the Union, pushing supranational crisis policymaking to the forefront of European politics and fostering an unprecedented expansion in fiscal solidarity with which to support the economic recovery ahead. This development lends pertinence to a contemporary reappraisal of the main determinants underlying individual support for European solidarity and its implications to the consolidation of a political basis for a supranational solidaristic space. Using an original large-N survey dataset and employing a fixed-effects linear regression analysis, this paper empirically reviews ideal-type theoretical predictions for individual support for European solidarity by conducting a comparative assessment of their correlates' explanatory power in the new pandemic context. First, I contend individuals reason in supranational terms as key political attitudes driving individual support for cross-border solidarity are informed directly at the supranational level, consubstantiating the claim that European redistribution operates as a distinct legitimate space for solidarity in its own right. Second, I argue that utilitarian motivations linked to expectations of material amelioration are better predictors of support for solidarity than cultural explanations emphasising national identity or attitudes towards immigration. Third, I suggest that preferences concerning European solidarity are better captured by political divides over economic redistribution rather than over cultural concerns, but only among more cosmopolitan-oriented individuals. In any event, cultural factors are still relevant predictors of support for solidarity, particularly among nationalists. The final section interprets these findings by discussing how the correspondence between public expectations and institutional supply of supranational redistributive instruments to respond to the pandemic may contribute to strenghten political support for European solidarity and the EU polity itself. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41295-023-00345-5.

Dataset Information

Managing constraint: frugal opposition to European fiscal solidarity.

Publications

Managing constraint: frugal opposition to European fiscal solidarity.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets