Nathan Brack
Biographic Data
| ID | 174569 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nathan Brack |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nathan |
| FAMILY NAME | Brack |
| SIGNATURE | BRACK N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Université Libre de Bruxelles |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4496-6109 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 43 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 377 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 43 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Political parties and dissensus over liberal democracy in the European Parliament
Far‐Right Illiberalism in the European Parliament
The rise of illiberalism has become a global concern, especially since the establishment of far‐right illiberal regimes in countries such as Hungary, India, Poland, and Turkey. When in power, far‐right parties tend to promote democratic backsliding, leading to a proliferation of studies of the illiberal regimes established by the far‐right. Less attention has been paid so far to the embrace of illiberal ideas by these parties. Although studies of…
Dissensus over liberal democracy in Europe: How does it shape policies and polity
This article introduces the Special Issue examining the growing dissensus over liberal democracy in the EU. While the early twenty-first century appeared to herald democratic triumph following the Cold War and the democratization waves of the 1980s and 1990s, recent decades have witnessed an increasing contestation of liberal democracy. The Special Issue explores this phenomenon and aims to understand the nature of the current dissensus over libe…
Dissensus over liberal democracy: Concept-building and typology
Democracy and liberal democracy, in particular, are at a turning point and the European Union constitutes a fertile ground to study this phenomenon. Although there have been many studies on the crises of democracy, this article aims to make a contribution by concentrating on the nature of the dissensus over liberal democracy. While there is a broad academic consensus that dissensus is “the essence of politics” (Rancière, 2010), it has been rarely…
Les élections européennes en Belgique: Un scrutin de troisième ordre
The European elections in Belgium: A third-order ballot
Unity in adversity: Has the grand coalition survived fragmentation and Covid-19 in the 9th European Parliament
The article explores the impact of political fragmentation and the Covid-19 pandemic on coalition formation in the 9th term of the European Parliament (EP) from 2019 to 2024. Historically dominated by a grand coalition between the European People's Party (EPP) and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the EP has faced increased fragmentation with the decline of mainstream political groups. This article examines the impact of this fragmentation on t…
As you wish? Public preferences for models of representation and MPs’ role orientations
How much autonomy elected representatives should have in looking after the interests of their constituents is a central question of democratic theory. While much research has been conducted on the representational roles adopted by elected representatives, we currently lack an understanding of citizens’ preferences for contrasting models of representation, more specifically whether they believe representatives should primarily act as instructed de…
Varieties of dissensus over liberal democracy in the EU. National and transnational actors
International audience
Politicians' Theories of Voting Behavior
While political scientists regularly engage in spirited theoretical debates about elections and voting behavior, few have noticed that elected politicians also have theories of elections and voting. Here, we investigate politicians' positions on eight central theoretical debates in the area of elections and voting behavior and compare politicians' theories to those held by ordinary citizens. Using data from face-to-face interviews with nearly one…
Origins, belonging, and expectations: Assessing Resource Compensation and Reinforcement in Academic Educational Trajectories
Research has shown that socioeconomic and psychological resources may influence educational trajectories. There are still unanswered questions, however, about the unique roles of these resources and the interplay between them. We consider two such questions: First, how do major psychological resources-a sense of school belonging and optimistic future expectations-predict educational trajectories when controlling for the effect of socioeconomic re…
From fringe to front? Assessing the voting influence of the radical right in the European Parliament
Scholars have long believed that the influence of radical right parties in the European Parliament was indirect due to their internal heterogeneity, limited involvement in parliamentary activities, and the existence of a cordon sanitaire. However, the consolidation of these parties, marked by the Identity and Democracy group becoming the fourth largest group in 2019, raises concerns about their impact on European Union decision-making. This artic…
Inaccurate Politicians: Elected Representatives’ Estimations of Public Opinion in Four Countries
Knowledge of what voters prefer is central to several theories of democratic representation and accountability. Despite this, we know little in a comparative sense of how well politicians know citizens’ policy preferences. We present results from a study of 866 politicians in four countries. Politicians were asked to estimate the percentage of public support for various policy proposals. Comparing more than 10,000 estimations with actual levels o…
Projection in Politicians' Perceptions of Public Opinion
Research has shown that politicians' perceptions of public opinion are subject to social projection. When estimating the opinions of voters on a broad range of issues, politicians tend to assume that their own preferences are shared by voters. This article revisits this finding and adds to the literature in three ways. First, it makes a conceptual contribution by bringing together different approaches to the analysis of projection and its consequ…
Conflicts of sovereignty in contemporary Europe: A framework of analysis
Implementing the will of the people: Sovereignty and policy conflicts in the aftermath of the UK’s referendum on EU membership
International populism: The radical right in the European Parliament
Towards a unified anti-Europe narrative on the right and left? The challenge of Euroscepticism in the 2019 European elections
In the aftermath of a decade of crisis, the 2019 European Parliament elections confirmed the results of the 2014 elections as voters turned away from the traditional political families to vote for parties with a strong message on Europe, including Eurosceptic parties. It further evidenced the normalization of Euroscepticism, which has become a stable component of European politics. But should one talk of Euroscepticism or rather of Euroscepticism…
The politics of the Brexit debate abroad: An analysis of parliamentary questions on Brexit in Belgian parliaments
The Brexit referendum in June 2016 marked a critical point for European integration and has quickly attracted attention from scholars. However, the literature so far has focused on the UK and the EU level, neglecting the symmetric risk exposures and the diverging views around Brexit within the Member states. This article aims at contributing to filling this gap by analyzing to what extent the attention paid to Brexit differs across parliaments in…
Unpacking old and new conflicts of sovereignty in the European polity
In the post-Maastricht era, member states of the European Union (EU) have proved increasingly reluctant to transfer further competences to the supranational level and are willing to safeguard their sovereignty. Though the responses to the contemporary multiple crises – related to economic and monetary policy, borders and migrations, or democracy and the rule of law – have brought about conflicts over values and sovereignty losses surrounding the …
Sheep in wolf’s clothing? Comparing eurosceptic and non-eurosceptic MEPs’ parliamentary behaviour
Often presented as a threat, Eurosceptic MEPs and their strategies have been comparatively understudied so far. At a time when the EU is facing a deep crisis and citizens’ discontent has led to a significant increase in the Eurosceptics’ share of EP seats, it is crucial to analyse empirically whether Eurosceptic MEPs behave in a manner that endangers the legitimacy or the work of the EP of the institution. This article is a first attempt to answe…
I want my sovereignty back!’ A comparative analysis of the populist discourses of Podemos, the 5 Star Movement, the FN and Ukip during the economic and migration crises
The multiple crises that the EU has faced over the last decade have provided fertile ground for the emergence of new political movements, often labelled as ‘anti-system’, ‘populist’ and ‘Eurosceptics’. One defining characteristic of these parties is their claim to represent ‘the people’ and their reliance on the idea of sovereignty. This article aims at examining how these populist parties have framed sovereignty in relation to the economic and m…
Introduction: The European Parliament at a crossroads
This introductory article discusses the rationale and the aim of this special issue on the European Parliament. Examining the ongoing multidimensional crisis the EU is facing, it emphasizes how the current content has reduced the EU output legitimacy. It also argues that the Parliament has been affected by the recent developments. On the one hand, it has been further empowered with the Lisbon Treaty and the Spitzenkandidaten procedure. On the oth…
Democracy in parliament vs. democracy through parliament? Defining the rules of the game in the European Parliament
While an extensive (US) literature stresses the importance of procedural rules in the evolution of parliaments as well as in the legislative process, very few studies have focused on the European Parliament (EP) rules. Whereas the EP's empowerment was significantly influenced by its rules of procedure, the reforms of these rules and their consequences for political actors remain understudied. This paper aims to contribute to the theorisation of t…
MPs between territories, assembly and party – Investigating parliamentary behaviour at the local level in France, Belgium and Germany
Introduction: Euroscepticism, from the margins to the mainstream
With the advent of the Eurozone crisis, Euroscepticism has become increasingly mainstreamed. This is discernible across Europe at the level of public opinion, among political parties and civil society groups, within the EU institutions themselves and in terms of changing and more challenging media discourses. Against the backdrop of the 2014 European elections and a potential referendum on UK membership of the EU, the purpose of this article is t…
Inaccurate Politicians: Elected Representatives’ Estimations of Public Opinion in Four Countries
Knowledge of what voters prefer is central to several theories of democratic representation and accountability. Despite this, we know little in a comparative sense of how well politicians know citizens’ policy preferences. We present results from a study of 866 politicians in four countries. Politicians were asked to estimate the percentage of public support for various policy proposals. Comparing more than 10,000 estimations with actual levels o…
The roles of Eurosceptic Members of the European Parliament and their implications for the EU
The 2014 European elections demonstrated the scale and success of the EU’s opponents. Radical and populist parties topped the polls in some countries while others gained parliamentary representation for the first time. At the same time, Euroscepticism has entered the mainstream, with an increase of anti-EU rhetoric among government parties and the European Conservative and Reformist group becoming the third largest party in the European Parliamen…
Projection in Politicians' Perceptions of Public Opinion
Research has shown that politicians' perceptions of public opinion are subject to social projection. When estimating the opinions of voters on a broad range of issues, politicians tend to assume that their own preferences are shared by voters. This article revisits this finding and adds to the literature in three ways. First, it makes a conceptual contribution by bringing together different approaches to the analysis of projection and its consequ…
Attitudes Towards the Focus and Style of Political Representation Among Belgian, French and Portuguese Parliamentarians
This article analyses the attitudes of members of parliament towards representation. Based on the PARENEL project dataset, it takes an individual-level approach to examine the focus and style of representation of Belgian, French and Portuguese representatives. It shows that, given the complexity of the process of representation, MPs have various principals and develop multiple foci of representation. It also demonstrates the impact of electoral r…
Unpacking old and new conflicts of sovereignty in the European polity
In the post-Maastricht era, member states of the European Union (EU) have proved increasingly reluctant to transfer further competences to the supranational level and are willing to safeguard their sovereignty. Though the responses to the contemporary multiple crises – related to economic and monetary policy, borders and migrations, or democracy and the rule of law – have brought about conflicts over values and sovereignty losses surrounding the …
I want my sovereignty back!’ A comparative analysis of the populist discourses of Podemos, the 5 Star Movement, the FN and Ukip during the economic and migration crises
The multiple crises that the EU has faced over the last decade have provided fertile ground for the emergence of new political movements, often labelled as ‘anti-system’, ‘populist’ and ‘Eurosceptics’. One defining characteristic of these parties is their claim to represent ‘the people’ and their reliance on the idea of sovereignty. This article aims at examining how these populist parties have framed sovereignty in relation to the economic and m…
Euroscepticism at the Supranational Level: The Case of the ‘Untidy Right’ in the European Parliament
For the last 20 years, Euroscepticism has become a stable component of European politics and has attracted much attention. European elections have provided Eurosceptic parties with an opportunity to get parliamentary representation. While there is a burgeoning literature on the Eurosceptic stances of these parties, there remains relatively little research on their strategies once inside the European Parliament. This article analyzes how Euroscept…
Introduction: The European Parliament at a crossroads
This introductory article discusses the rationale and the aim of this special issue on the European Parliament. Examining the ongoing multidimensional crisis the EU is facing, it emphasizes how the current content has reduced the EU output legitimacy. It also argues that the Parliament has been affected by the recent developments. On the one hand, it has been further empowered with the Lisbon Treaty and the Spitzenkandidaten procedure. On the oth…
Democracy in parliament vs. democracy through parliament? Defining the rules of the game in the European Parliament
While an extensive (US) literature stresses the importance of procedural rules in the evolution of parliaments as well as in the legislative process, very few studies have focused on the European Parliament (EP) rules. Whereas the EP's empowerment was significantly influenced by its rules of procedure, the reforms of these rules and their consequences for political actors remain understudied. This paper aims to contribute to the theorisation of t…
From fringe to front? Assessing the voting influence of the radical right in the European Parliament
Scholars have long believed that the influence of radical right parties in the European Parliament was indirect due to their internal heterogeneity, limited involvement in parliamentary activities, and the existence of a cordon sanitaire. However, the consolidation of these parties, marked by the Identity and Democracy group becoming the fourth largest group in 2019, raises concerns about their impact on European Union decision-making. This artic…
Eurosceptics in the European Parliament: Exit or Voice
Euroscepticism at the supranational level has remained largely overlooked by scholars. In an attempt to fill in this gap, this article focuses on the persistent minority of hard Eurosceptic MEPs. The objective is twofold. First, it aims to determine how Eurosceptic MEPs conceive and carry out their representative mandate. Second, it analyzes the impact of the institutional framework and of the visions of Europe on the strategies of these MEPs. Dr…
Conflicts of sovereignty in contemporary Europe: A framework of analysis
Towards a unified anti-Europe narrative on the right and left? The challenge of Euroscepticism in the 2019 European elections
In the aftermath of a decade of crisis, the 2019 European Parliament elections confirmed the results of the 2014 elections as voters turned away from the traditional political families to vote for parties with a strong message on Europe, including Eurosceptic parties. It further evidenced the normalization of Euroscepticism, which has become a stable component of European politics. But should one talk of Euroscepticism or rather of Euroscepticism…
Politicians' Theories of Voting Behavior
While political scientists regularly engage in spirited theoretical debates about elections and voting behavior, few have noticed that elected politicians also have theories of elections and voting. Here, we investigate politicians' positions on eight central theoretical debates in the area of elections and voting behavior and compare politicians' theories to those held by ordinary citizens. Using data from face-to-face interviews with nearly one…
One Country, Two Party Systems? The 2009 Belgian Regional Elections
SCOPUS: ar.j
Sheep in wolf’s clothing? Comparing eurosceptic and non-eurosceptic MEPs’ parliamentary behaviour
Often presented as a threat, Eurosceptic MEPs and their strategies have been comparatively understudied so far. At a time when the EU is facing a deep crisis and citizens’ discontent has led to a significant increase in the Eurosceptics’ share of EP seats, it is crucial to analyse empirically whether Eurosceptic MEPs behave in a manner that endangers the legitimacy or the work of the EP of the institution. This article is a first attempt to answe…
Explaining MPs’ constituency service in multilevel systems: The case of Belgium
Dissensus over liberal democracy: Concept-building and typology
Democracy and liberal democracy, in particular, are at a turning point and the European Union constitutes a fertile ground to study this phenomenon. Although there have been many studies on the crises of democracy, this article aims to make a contribution by concentrating on the nature of the dissensus over liberal democracy. While there is a broad academic consensus that dissensus is “the essence of politics” (Rancière, 2010), it has been rarely…
Unity in adversity: Has the grand coalition survived fragmentation and Covid-19 in the 9th European Parliament
The article explores the impact of political fragmentation and the Covid-19 pandemic on coalition formation in the 9th term of the European Parliament (EP) from 2019 to 2024. Historically dominated by a grand coalition between the European People's Party (EPP) and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the EP has faced increased fragmentation with the decline of mainstream political groups. This article examines the impact of this fragmentation on t…
The politics of the Brexit debate abroad: An analysis of parliamentary questions on Brexit in Belgian parliaments
The Brexit referendum in June 2016 marked a critical point for European integration and has quickly attracted attention from scholars. However, the literature so far has focused on the UK and the EU level, neglecting the symmetric risk exposures and the diverging views around Brexit within the Member states. This article aims at contributing to filling this gap by analyzing to what extent the attention paid to Brexit differs across parliaments in…
The challenges of territorial representation at the supranational level: The case of French MEPs
Far‐Right Illiberalism in the European Parliament
The rise of illiberalism has become a global concern, especially since the establishment of far‐right illiberal regimes in countries such as Hungary, India, Poland, and Turkey. When in power, far‐right parties tend to promote democratic backsliding, leading to a proliferation of studies of the illiberal regimes established by the far‐right. Less attention has been paid so far to the embrace of illiberal ideas by these parties. Although studies of…
Dissensus over liberal democracy in Europe: How does it shape policies and polity
This article introduces the Special Issue examining the growing dissensus over liberal democracy in the EU. While the early twenty-first century appeared to herald democratic triumph following the Cold War and the democratization waves of the 1980s and 1990s, recent decades have witnessed an increasing contestation of liberal democracy. The Special Issue explores this phenomenon and aims to understand the nature of the current dissensus over libe…
As you wish? Public preferences for models of representation and MPs’ role orientations
How much autonomy elected representatives should have in looking after the interests of their constituents is a central question of democratic theory. While much research has been conducted on the representational roles adopted by elected representatives, we currently lack an understanding of citizens’ preferences for contrasting models of representation, more specifically whether they believe representatives should primarily act as instructed de…
L'Europe en campagne électorale: Une analyse croisée des médias nationaux
À travers une étude de la presse écrite dans dix États, cet article analyse la nature des campagnes électorales pour le scrutin européen de juin 2009. Il évalue le caractère de « second-ordre » de ces campagnes et le degré d’européanisation des espaces publics nationaux. Nous démontrons que si ces campagnes restent dominées par des acteurs et thèmes nationaux, l’Europe n’est pas pour autant complètement absente. Toutefois, l’européanisation des s…
One Country, Two Party Systems? The 2009 Belgian Regional Elections
SCOPUS: ar.j
Oppositions Politiques et Politiques d'Opposition: Une introduction
info:eu-repo/semantics/published
Pour une approche renouvelée de l'opposition politique
En dépit du caractère central de l’opposition en démocratie, peu de recherches théoriques ont été menées sur cette question depuis les années 1970, alors même que le contexte dans lequel l’opposition a été conceptualisée à l’époque a changé de manière fondamentale. Pour cette raison, l’article vise à offrir une nouvelle perspective de l’opposition politique dans les démocraties contemporaines. Après une revue critique de la littérature classique …
S'opposer au sein du Parlement européen: Le cas des eurosceptiques
Cet article étudie les conceptions et pratiques du mandat représentatif des eurosceptiques au Parlement européen en tant qu’opposants anti-système. Il s’agit d’une part de déterminer dans quelle mesure les eurosceptiques durs ( hard ) ont une vision unifiée de leur mandat et des caractéristiques comportementales similaires ou s’il existe une certaine diversité en leur sein. Nous montrerons que ces élus endossent 3 types de rôle : le tribunitien, …
Eurosceptics in the European Parliament: Exit or Voice
Euroscepticism at the supranational level has remained largely overlooked by scholars. In an attempt to fill in this gap, this article focuses on the persistent minority of hard Eurosceptic MEPs. The objective is twofold. First, it aims to determine how Eurosceptic MEPs conceive and carry out their representative mandate. Second, it analyzes the impact of the institutional framework and of the visions of Europe on the strategies of these MEPs. Dr…
Beyond the Pro/Anti-Europe Divide: Diverging Views of Europe within EU Institutions
This general introduction aims at explaining the rationale behind this special issue. EU institutions have long been seen as bastions for Europhile actors and they indeed seem to have, over time, promoted further European integration. This pro-integration bias is here examined through the analysis of three interrelated factors: ideas, interests and institutional logics. But this introduction also shows that there have been diverging views of Euro…
Attitudes Towards the Focus and Style of Political Representation Among Belgian, French and Portuguese Parliamentarians
This article analyses the attitudes of members of parliament towards representation. Based on the PARENEL project dataset, it takes an individual-level approach to examine the focus and style of representation of Belgian, French and Portuguese representatives. It shows that, given the complexity of the process of representation, MPs have various principals and develop multiple foci of representation. It also demonstrates the impact of electoral r…
The challenges of territorial representation at the supranational level: The case of French MEPs
Euroscepticism at the Supranational Level: The Case of the ‘Untidy Right’ in the European Parliament
For the last 20 years, Euroscepticism has become a stable component of European politics and has attracted much attention. European elections have provided Eurosceptic parties with an opportunity to get parliamentary representation. While there is a burgeoning literature on the Eurosceptic stances of these parties, there remains relatively little research on their strategies once inside the European Parliament. This article analyzes how Euroscept…
Poor linkage and lacking representation: A thorn in the side of the European Parliament only
European integration. From nation-states to member states
Construction européenne et légitimité démocratique: Les relations difficiles entre l’UE et les citoyens
European integration and consensus politics in the low countries
This interesting edited volume is the result of the efforts of three teams, from the Universities of Antwerp, Leiden and Luxembourg. It includes contributions from a number of leading academics in
The roles of Eurosceptic Members of the European Parliament and their implications for the EU
The 2014 European elections demonstrated the scale and success of the EU’s opponents. Radical and populist parties topped the polls in some countries while others gained parliamentary representation for the first time. At the same time, Euroscepticism has entered the mainstream, with an increase of anti-EU rhetoric among government parties and the European Conservative and Reformist group becoming the third largest party in the European Parliamen…
Introduction: Euroscepticism, from the margins to the mainstream
With the advent of the Eurozone crisis, Euroscepticism has become increasingly mainstreamed. This is discernible across Europe at the level of public opinion, among political parties and civil society groups, within the EU institutions themselves and in terms of changing and more challenging media discourses. Against the backdrop of the 2014 European elections and a potential referendum on UK membership of the EU, the purpose of this article is t…
MPs between territories, assembly and party – Investigating parliamentary behaviour at the local level in France, Belgium and Germany
Conclusion to special issue: “To the district… and beyond!”
Explaining MPs’ constituency service in multilevel systems: The case of Belgium
Introduction: The European Parliament at a crossroads
This introductory article discusses the rationale and the aim of this special issue on the European Parliament. Examining the ongoing multidimensional crisis the EU is facing, it emphasizes how the current content has reduced the EU output legitimacy. It also argues that the Parliament has been affected by the recent developments. On the one hand, it has been further empowered with the Lisbon Treaty and the Spitzenkandidaten procedure. On the oth…
Democracy in parliament vs. democracy through parliament? Defining the rules of the game in the European Parliament
While an extensive (US) literature stresses the importance of procedural rules in the evolution of parliaments as well as in the legislative process, very few studies have focused on the European Parliament (EP) rules. Whereas the EP's empowerment was significantly influenced by its rules of procedure, the reforms of these rules and their consequences for political actors remain understudied. This paper aims to contribute to the theorisation of t…
Unpacking old and new conflicts of sovereignty in the European polity
In the post-Maastricht era, member states of the European Union (EU) have proved increasingly reluctant to transfer further competences to the supranational level and are willing to safeguard their sovereignty. Though the responses to the contemporary multiple crises – related to economic and monetary policy, borders and migrations, or democracy and the rule of law – have brought about conflicts over values and sovereignty losses surrounding the …
Sheep in wolf’s clothing? Comparing eurosceptic and non-eurosceptic MEPs’ parliamentary behaviour
Often presented as a threat, Eurosceptic MEPs and their strategies have been comparatively understudied so far. At a time when the EU is facing a deep crisis and citizens’ discontent has led to a significant increase in the Eurosceptics’ share of EP seats, it is crucial to analyse empirically whether Eurosceptic MEPs behave in a manner that endangers the legitimacy or the work of the EP of the institution. This article is a first attempt to answe…
I want my sovereignty back!’ A comparative analysis of the populist discourses of Podemos, the 5 Star Movement, the FN and Ukip during the economic and migration crises
The multiple crises that the EU has faced over the last decade have provided fertile ground for the emergence of new political movements, often labelled as ‘anti-system’, ‘populist’ and ‘Eurosceptics’. One defining characteristic of these parties is their claim to represent ‘the people’ and their reliance on the idea of sovereignty. This article aims at examining how these populist parties have framed sovereignty in relation to the economic and m…
Towards a unified anti-Europe narrative on the right and left? The challenge of Euroscepticism in the 2019 European elections
In the aftermath of a decade of crisis, the 2019 European Parliament elections confirmed the results of the 2014 elections as voters turned away from the traditional political families to vote for parties with a strong message on Europe, including Eurosceptic parties. It further evidenced the normalization of Euroscepticism, which has become a stable component of European politics. But should one talk of Euroscepticism or rather of Euroscepticism…
Political science (41 works) · Politics (36 works) · Law (35 works) · Law (35 works) · Sociology (26 works) · European Union Policy and Governance (25 works) · Political economy (23 works) · Economics (17 works) · Public Administration (17 works) · Public Administration (17 works)