Europe: A Sleeping Giant in Domestic Politics?

Abstract

In the midst of the Euro crisis sweeping across Europe, Euroscepticism tops the political and media agenda. Until the late 1980s, the integration process was indeed accompanied by a diffuse feeling of approval on the part of the European citizenry, but current developments cast a shadow on Jean Monnet’s initial hope of building a union among people rather than states. Indeed, one only has to open a newspaper today in Europe, America and beyond to realise that the process of European integration, which has been a political and social reality within Western Europe for over half a century now, has become increasingly conflictual. Although there have been downturns in support for European integration in the past, it is clear that Europeans have grown considerably more wary of the integration process than they once were. Against this backdrop, this panel invites contributions examining the way in which issues concerning European integration affect elections and party competition in domestic political arenas. The contributions should set out to explore the following overarching question: To what extent and under which conditions does European integration structure election campaigns, party activity and the behaviour of voters in member states?

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