Overview

In 2004 the European Union was enlarged with ten new member states, eight of them previously communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. This enlargement was without precedent in the history of the Union and its predecessors. It is still to be seen how well the institutions as well as the citizens of the Union are able to cope with the consequences of this operation.The authors of this volume evaluate the effect of that enlargement on its legitimacy. They do so by assessing the effects of enlargement on the functioning of the process of political representation in the European Union and on the feelings of the European people towards the Union. This study is mainly based on data from the European Election Study 2004. This study made it for the first time possible to compare the attitudes and behaviour of citizens in the enlargement countries, in particular in Central and Eastern Europe, with their counterparts in the older member states. Some of the findings of this study are counterintuitive. In many respects the effects of enlargements are much smaller than often argued. The party systems of the new member states and the attitudes and behaviour of the voters of individual parties are very compatible with their counterparts in the older member states, making further European integration relatively easy. The same can be said about members of the European Parliament. On the other hand the mutual trust of the people in the older and new member states is extremely low and undermines the legitimacy of the enlarged Union.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jacques Thomassen (Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Twente.)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.10cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 24.10cm
Weight:   0.625kg
ISBN:  

9780199548996

ISBN 10:   0199548994
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   28 May 2009
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

List of Figures ; List of Tables ; Contributors ; 1. The Legitimacy of the European Union After Enlargement ; PART I POLITICAL REPRESENTATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION ; 2. The European Party System After Enlargement ; 3. Light at the End of the Tunnel: Towards a European Public Sphere? ; 4. Towards a European Electorate. One Electorate or Many? ; 5. Enlargement and the 'Normal' European Parliament ; PART II POLITICAL SUPPORT FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION ; 6. The Level of Decision Making: the Preferences of the Citizens After Enlargement ; 7. Policy Performance and Support for European Integration ; 8. Trust in Political Institutions ; 9. European Citizenship and Identity After Enlargement ; 10. Legitimacy and Electoral Abstention in European Parliament Elections ; 11. In conclusion: the legitimacy of the European Union After Enlargement ; References

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Author Information

Professor Jacques Thomassen is distinguished professor of political science at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. He is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He published widely on the political representation, political behaviour and European Union politics. He was a visiting professor at the universities of Michigan, Harvard, Mannheim and the European University Institute.

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