External Threat, Group Identity, and Support for Common Policies – The Effect of the Russian Invasion in Ukraine on European Union Identity

Gehring, Kai

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3511287

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Finally, by considering attitudes towards shifting decision-making to the international level, I relate to the international relations literature on regional integration (Schneider 2017), the political economy of international organizations in general (reviewed in Dreher and Lang 2019) and the EU in particular (Gehring and Schneider 2018), and the impact of IO conditionality (e.g., Carnegie 2014; Dreher 2004; Gehring and Lang 2020). My results complement the existing literature examining EU support (e.g., Gehring 2020; Hooghe and Marks 2004; Marks and Steenbergen 2004; Sánchez-Cuenca 2000) and Euroscepticism (e.g., De Vries 2018). To a large extent, the EU support literature is focused on correlational evidence regarding individual-level attributes or current domestic aspects as explanatory factors.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Overcoming History Through Exit or Integration: Deep-Rooted Sources of Support for the European Union

Gehring

2020

Am Polit Sci Rev

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The origins of voter preferences about the vertical distribution of political power in federal systems are not well understood. I argue that negative historical experiences with higher-level governments can raise demands for both exit strategies and a decentralization of power, but also for upward integration. I specify conditions when delegating power upwards, for example, from the nation-state to a supranational level or international organization, can better serve the purpose of constraining nation-state actions to overcome history. Empirically, the quasi-random division of the French regions Alsace and Lorraine allows estimating differences in support for integration with a spatial regression discontinuity design. More negative exposure to nation-state actions causes persistently higher support for European integration in three referenda and less Euroscepticism in EU elections. Survey evidence supports exit and integration as two complementary alternatives. Both options can serve the purpose of moving power away from the government level associated with negative historical experiences.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Overcoming History Through Exit or Integration: Deep-Rooted Sources of Support for the European Union

Gehring

2020

Am Polit Sci Rev

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“…The change could be based on the perception of increased external threats or the emotions evoked by winning and losing. The external threat explanation highlights that living in a community that is, in the majority, in opposition to a person's own identity is threatening and, therefore, might invoke a stronger in-group identification (Gehring, 2019;Sen, 2007). Other theories highlight the role of losing and winning (Jong et al, 2015), in which the shock of losing would activate and increase the European identity, creating a sense of community through a shared negative experience.…”

Section: Alternative Explanations and Political Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

European by action: How voting reshapes nested identities

Sczepanski

2023

European Union Politics

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Although research has questioned the stability of identities, we know little about identity change. I examine a political event as a driver of identity change, namely the Brexit vote. I contend that the act of voting, choosing between two options, boosts the European and British identity underlying the vote choice. I test whether the increased identification with Europe or Britain comes with a reduction in the other identity. Using British Election Study panel data in a two-way fixed-effects design, I show that voting to remain increases identification with Europe but voting to leave does not increase British identification for Leavers. However, voting has no impact on how Remainers identify with Britain or Leavers identify with Europe. The results contribute to the growing literature on the link between politics and identities.

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“…First, this paper would quote other essays to illustrate some definitions. In Gehring's essay, External threat, Group-Identity, and Support for Common Policies-The Effect of the Russian Invasion in Ukraine on European Union Identity, Gehring mainly focused on the military threat posed by other countries [2].…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining the Change in India’s Foreign Policies Towards Russia (1947-2013): Constructing the Theory of Potential Ally’s Reliability and External Threat

Li¹,

Lu²,

Zou³

2021

Proceedings of the 2021 5th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2021)

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The relations of medium-sized countries and hegemons are very complex. A typical example is India-Russia bilateral relationship, which has been fluctuating during the period from 1947 to 2013. This paper is aiming at exploring the determinants of India's ever-changing foreign policy to Russia. This paper uses the case study method to achieve this aim. To be more specific, through the case study of India-Russia, the research hopes to have broader lessons of exploring the relationship between medium-sized countries and hegemons. The research reveals that external threats and reliability of potential allies can explain such fluctuation. This paper will use the words reliability and credibility interchangeably. Moreover, the theoretical and practical significance of this research is as follows. Theoretical significance is two-fold: firstly, it simplifies the existing theory of level of analysis--reducing the variables. Secondly, by setting only two variables, this research successfully avoids the overlapping of variables thus procure a relevantly clear logical chain. As for practical significance, the essay is useful to provide policy recommendations to the national government about how to sensibly deal with the relationship of India and predict India's interest and policy--India is profit-oriented, so the key is to seek the common interest. Last but not least, this paper still leaves much to explore. First, the paper is limited in the way that apart from the variables discussed in our essay, there may be other variables that might have contributed to the India-Russia relationship which are not taken into account. Additionally, the adaptability of theory is limiting. In other words, it may not fully apply to other cases. In response to this, further studies can look into other variables, such as economic ties, energy.

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External Threat, Group Identity, and Support for Common Policies – The Effect of the Russian Invasion in Ukraine on European Union Identity

Cited by 4 publications

References 36 publications

Overcoming History Through Exit or Integration: Deep-Rooted Sources of Support for the European Union

Overcoming History Through Exit or Integration: Deep-Rooted Sources of Support for the European Union

European by action: How voting reshapes nested identities

Explaining the Change in India’s Foreign Policies Towards Russia (1947-2013): Constructing the Theory of Potential Ally’s Reliability and External Threat

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