When do European election campaigns become about Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID8041806
AuthorsBeatrice Eugster (0000-0002-5272-7119, Institute of Communication and Media Studies, University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland), Carlos Jalali (0000-0002-1246-7391, University of Aveiro), Michaela Maier (0000-0002-7505-691X, Department of Communication Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany, corresponding author), Severin Bathelt (Department of Communication Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany), Melanie Leidecker-Sandmann (0000-0001-7203-2448, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Silke Adam (0000-0001-8022-9101, Institute of Communication and Media Studies, University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland), Ralph Negrine (University of Sheffield), Nicolas Demertzis (0000-0002-6251-0239, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Year2020
Volume44
Issue7
Pages1425-1454
Publication date2020-07-06
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWest European Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0140-2382 • E-ISSN: 1743-9655
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01402382.2020.1778956
OpenAlexW3038943063
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited53

This article examines which parties included European issues in their 2014 European Parliament campaigns, and what influenced whether they did so, based on innovative data from the content analysis of 9,100 press releases in seven countries. Overall, established and especially governing parties no longer shied away from EU issues, referring to them as often as challenger parties did. The likelihood of EU issues in campaigns derives from a combination of predictors from the selective emphasis and co-orientation approaches. In general, parties with high internal dissent on EU integration avoid European issues, and weak leaders will only dare talk about the EU if internal dissent is low. However, between-party-type comparisons indicate that successful leaderships of governing parties facing strong internal divisions are even less likely to put EU issues on the agenda. With respect to the co-orientation model, parties' EU focus seems to be mainly determined by the communication of (other) opposition parties

Business · Dissent · European integration · European union · International trade · Opposition (politics · Parliament · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration

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