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Issue salience and the domestic legitimacy demands of European integration. The cases of Britain and Germany

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 15:58 authored by Kai Oppermann, Henrike Viehrig
The salience of European issues to the general public is a major determinant of the domestic legitimacy demands that governments face when they devise their European policies. The higher the salience of these issues, the more restrictive will be the legitimacy demands that governments have to meet on the domestic level. Whereas the domestic legitimacy of European policy can rest on a permissive consensus among the public in cases of low issue salience, it requires the electorate’s explicit endorsement in cases of high issue salience. Polling data from Britain and Germany show that the salience of European issues is clearly higher in Britain than in Germany. We thus conclude that British governments face tougher domestic legitimacy demands when formulating their European policies than German governments. This may contribute to accounting for both countries’ different approaches to the integration process: Germany as a role model of a pro-integrationist member state and, in contrast, Britain as the eternal "awkward partner".

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

European Integration online Papers

ISSN

1027-5193

Publisher

ECSA Austria

Issue

2

Volume

12

Department affiliated with

  • Politics Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2013-10-03

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