Euroscepticism, Populism and Emotional Politics in Europe

The European Union (EU) is still experiencing contested debates on migration, challenged by the abuse of the rule of law, that expands beyond the case of Hungary, and with Britain expected to leave the EU after the 2016 British referendum, that followed the 2015 Greek one. While hard Euroscepticism remains marginal, different forms of pro-systemic contestation are becoming widespread and mobilized. Research stresses the mainstreaming and contagion of Euroscepticism throughout the EU, with public Euroscepticism spawned by negative news, embedded in the national traditions, and subject to contingent issues emerging from the domestic context, with a rising salience of emotions, that polarize opposite attitudes towards the EU. Different types of emotions affect and impact citizens’ cognitive processes and influence how information is selected and how the EU is understood. We invite contributions on the study of contestation, populism, and opposition to the EU, moving beyond, as it has been done in the case of Euroscepticism, analyses of these phenomena as dependent variable or independent variable, but examining their different manifestations, not only at the public and party levels, but also in understanding their strategy, emotions and narratives. This Section seeks to explore these themes, and examine what we can learn after the British referendum and the challenges to the rule of law. This Section invites Panel proposals covering different aspects related to Euroscepticism, Populism, Contested politics, and Emotions and Politics, presenting both case studies and comparative research designs, empirical and theoretical analyses, and experimental research.