Euroscepticism in Central Europe: A comparative analysis at elite and mass level of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia
(2007)Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia all joined the European Union in 2004. Since then, there have been very different trends apparent in all these countries in terms of attitudes to Europe, both at elite and mass level. This thesis examines the nature and level of Euroscepticism in these countries, and discovers a number of reasons for the differences in these trends from country to country. In order to do this, I have examined empirical results from the Eurobarometer polls taken in these countries from the time of accession to the present date. I have also looked at various theories and typologies related to the study of Euroscepticism. This includes Opposition-politics theory, as well as the Kopecky/Mudde and Taggart/Szczerbiak... (More)
- Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia all joined the European Union in 2004. Since then, there have been very different trends apparent in all these countries in terms of attitudes to Europe, both at elite and mass level. This thesis examines the nature and level of Euroscepticism in these countries, and discovers a number of reasons for the differences in these trends from country to country. In order to do this, I have examined empirical results from the Eurobarometer polls taken in these countries from the time of accession to the present date. I have also looked at various theories and typologies related to the study of Euroscepticism. This includes Opposition-politics theory, as well as the Kopecky/Mudde and Taggart/Szczerbiak (hard-soft) typologies of Euroscepticism. My findings have been that there is high elite-based scepticism in Poland and the Czech Republic, and low mass-based scepticism in Poland and Slovakia. Furthermore, I have found that the differing levels of scepticism are a result of history and the economic status of the country in question; and the reasons for the differences in levels of elite- and mass-based scepticism include trust for the elites in question, and the extent of elite responsiveness to mass opinions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1320981
- author
- Toomey, Michael
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2007
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Euroscepticism, Central Europe, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Political and administrative sciences, Statsvetenskap, förvaltningskunskap
- language
- English
- id
- 1320981
- date added to LUP
- 2007-06-12 00:00:00
- date last changed
- 2007-06-12 00:00:00
@misc{1320981, abstract = {{Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia all joined the European Union in 2004. Since then, there have been very different trends apparent in all these countries in terms of attitudes to Europe, both at elite and mass level. This thesis examines the nature and level of Euroscepticism in these countries, and discovers a number of reasons for the differences in these trends from country to country. In order to do this, I have examined empirical results from the Eurobarometer polls taken in these countries from the time of accession to the present date. I have also looked at various theories and typologies related to the study of Euroscepticism. This includes Opposition-politics theory, as well as the Kopecky/Mudde and Taggart/Szczerbiak (hard-soft) typologies of Euroscepticism. My findings have been that there is high elite-based scepticism in Poland and the Czech Republic, and low mass-based scepticism in Poland and Slovakia. Furthermore, I have found that the differing levels of scepticism are a result of history and the economic status of the country in question; and the reasons for the differences in levels of elite- and mass-based scepticism include trust for the elites in question, and the extent of elite responsiveness to mass opinions.}}, author = {{Toomey, Michael}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Euroscepticism in Central Europe: A comparative analysis at elite and mass level of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia}}, year = {{2007}}, }