Polarisation in European Union politics: The 2024 European Parliament elections and beyond

The 2024 EP elections were held in times of increasing polarisation. The Covid-19 pandemic has deeply affected European societies in terms of trust , the contestation of civil liberties, and the role of (mis)information. Migration and refugee policies have taken centre stage again in public and political discourse, involving also contestation of freedom of movement (see, Sojka et al., 2024) or minority rights as core elements of liberal democracy (eg see Abubakar et al., 2024). At the same time, external threats, most notably from Russia amid its illegal war against Ukraine, have raised fear among European citizens and created divergent preferences for how to deal with the conflict. All of these developments are also accompanied by crucial transitions — green, tech and demographic ones — that affect the world economy and put European labour markets and industries under pressure. This complex landscape underscores the need for scholarly engagement to better understand how polarisation reshapes EU politics. We invite scholars to submit papers that engage with the evolving nature of polarisation in EP elections and its effect on EU politics more broadly. The workshop will approach the EU as a continental political system and seek to evaluate the effects of polarisation in the context of European integration politicisation. This workshop aims to foster an informed discussion encouraging approaches from political behaviour, political communication, public opinion, and party competition. It is open to diverse theoretical perspectives on the impact of polarisation in EU politics in the 2024 elections and beyond.

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1: Has the politicization of EU integration shifted EP elections from second-order to first-order?
2: What are the patterns of party competition, voter behavior, media, and public opinion in the 2024 EP elections?
3: How has polarization, driven by internal and external crises, shaped the dynamics of the 2024 EP elections?
4: How do shifts in technology, environment, and demographics influence EU electoral outcomes and politics?
5: How do the 2024 EP elections reflect broader trends of polarization in European politics?

Title	Details
Polarization, Ideology and Voter Participation in European Parliament Elections, 2004-2024	View Paper Details
Eurosceptic Voting after COVID-19: Estimating the Effect of the Pandemic on Euroscepticism in the 2024 EU Election	View Paper Details
Polarized partners? The Extreme Right and Left in the 2024-2029 European Parliament	View Paper Details
United in Diversity, Divided by Algorithms: Ad Delivery Algorithms in the 2024 European Parliament Elections	View Paper Details
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From Second-Order to First-Order? The Impact of EU Politicization on Turnout in European Parliament Elections, a mixed-method approach.	View Paper Details
From Second-Order to First-Order? National versus European Determinants in the 2024 European Parliament Elections	View Paper Details
Does party polarization at the national level influences turnout in EU elections? A multidimensional party competition approach to polarization and electoral participation in second-order elections	View Paper Details
Evolving Dynamics of Voter Behavior and Media Use in the 2024 European Parliamentary Elections: A Cross-National Analysis	View Paper Details
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Contesting the contest? Media framing effects on the acceptance of election outcomes by European voters	View Paper Details
Echoes of Conflict: EU polarisation and voting behaviour in European Elections	View Paper Details
Convergence or Divergence? Analyzing Voter and Party Positions on EU Strategic Challenges	View Paper Details
From Votes to Mandates? Assessing the European Commission's Responsiveness to Electoral Preferences	View Paper Details
Bridging the Left-Authoritarian Gap: The Emergence and Implications of the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) in German and European Politics	View Paper Details
Different crises, same impact? EU issue voting in times of crises	View Paper Details
Ideological, Affective, and EU Polarisation: Mobilising Voters in European Parliament Elections	View Paper Details
Negative voting in European Parliament elections: Expressive or instrumental?	View Paper Details
The Radical Right: masking polarizing discourse? An urgent analysis of the campaign speech for the 2024 European Elections.	View Paper Details
From Second-Order to First-Order? Investigating Voter Decision-Making in the 2024 European Parliament Elections	View Paper Details
Between Crises and Contention: Politicization of the EU and Political Discourse Europeanisation during the 2019 & 2024 EP Elections	View Paper Details