European Solidarity at a Crossroads? Citizens’ Attitudes and Political Behaviors in Europe

Abstract

Many observers have voiced their concerns that solidarity is at risk in Europe. Given this wider context, we are urgently in need of sound empirical analyses examining the various dimensions of solidarity in Europe. Public debates focus on solidarity in many respects but there is to date a lack of empirical evidence to draw upon to inform them. In this context, this special issue emerges from research conducted in the European Union–funded research project TransSOL devoted to the study of European solidarity (“European Paths to Transnational Solidarity in Times of Crisis”) running from 2015 to 2018. The project received funding under the Horizon 2020 program (Grant Agreement No. 649435). Christian Lahusen at the University of Siegen coordinated the overall project and Maria Grasso at the University of Sheffield coordinated the population survey for the project. The TransSOL survey includes approximately 2,000 respondents from each of the eight countries of the project (total N ~ 16,000): Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In the context of the project, the aim of the cross-national survey was to build a comparative dataset that would allow us to answer our theoretically relevant questions of interest on European solidarity such as those discussed in this introduction and in the other articles of this special issue. The articles in this special issue all analyze the data from this original survey dataset to shed systematic light into key theoretically-driven research questions on various aspects of European solidarity.

Solidarity has become an increasingly important object of study in the recent context given various crises affecting the European Union (EU) since 2008 (Lahusen and Grasso, 2018). In this context, many observers have voiced their concerns that solidarity is severely at risk in Europe, also due to the difficulties encountered by European institutions and member states in agreeing mechanisms for burden sharing. The erosion of cooperation and solidarity between member state governments might result from times of crisis. These challenging times may also lead to the corrosion of solidarity at the level of the European citizenry, threatening at the same time the social foundations of solidarity underlying EU institutions and policies. In this context, it becomes important to examine whether European solidarity is really on the retreat within the European citizenry? And also how strongly solidarity is rooted at the individual level in terms of both attitudes and practices? Moreover, it appears important to analyze which factors seem to contribute to solidarity in times of crisis?

The idea of European solidarity has been put under stress by various crises affecting the European Union. For example, the economic crisis has had a deep impact on many European countries since 2008 (Giugni and Grasso, 2018). Even though the European Union developed various policy measures (e.g., the “European Financial Stability Facility,” the “European Stability Mechanism,” and the “Stability and Growth Pact”), opening the door to financial assistance, the European Union remained committed to a bail-out policy package that did not support the communitarization of debts but rather placed the main burden on countries threatened by bankruptcy by imposing austerity measures. In response, many suggested that international solidarity was dead (see Balibar, 2010; Habermas, 2017). A similar conclusion was drawn in the wake of the reactions to the increased inflow of refugees from Syria and other war-torn regions in 2015, given the inability of EU institutions and member states to converge on a coordinated asylum policy and admission and integration mechanisms. Only the external dimension (e.g., frontier controls, fight against human trafficking) leads to some agreement, thus leaving open the question of fair burden sharing through quotas and relocation. Moreover, the rise in popularity of populist parties in many European countries (e.g., France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy, Spain), the result of the Brexit referendum, and the spread of Eurosceptic and xenophobic protests across Europe all raise worries that European solidarity may be being called into question.

Given this wider context, we require sound empirical analyses examining the various dimensions of solidarity in Europe. Public debates focus on solidarity in many respects but there is to date a scarcity of empirical evidence to draw upon to inform this debate, particularly in regard to solidarity dispositions and practices within the European citizenry. Today, pessimists appear to be at the forefront. According to this side of the argument, the various crises affecting the European Union are fundamentally straining European solidarity. While during times of economic growth and more optimistic economic outlooks, it may be easier to profess cooperation, on the other hand, solidarity seems harder to sustain in times of recession and scarcity. This may be particularly true once we examine how populist and xenophobic political entrepreneurs often draw on the exacerbation of citizens’ fears and grievances in tough times. Moreover, current crises overlap with a longer history of ineffective policies in key domains, such as poverty and unemployment, immigration and asylum. Under these circumstances, political debates are increasingly marked by antagonism, conflict, and mistrust between governments and citizens, to the detriment of social cohesion and solidarity.

On the other side of this pessimistic outlook, however, there may be some room for hope. Sixty years of European integration have been shown to have gradually established feelings of belongingness to the European community and to have allowed for the development of a shared identification with European institutions, as well as European and cosmopolitan identities (Beck & Grande, 2014; Delanty & Rumford, 2005). Moreover, European integration has supported cross-national experiences and furthered contact among citizens, as well as the development of transnational trust between European peoples (Delhey 2007). Moreover, public opinion polls show that a majority of respondents still agree that it is desirable to support financially other countries in the name of European solidarity between member states (see Eurobarometer, 2011; Gerhards, Lengfeld, & Häuberer, 2018; Lengfeld, Schmidt, & Häuberer, 2015), even in the midst of the European crisis. The same is true for the readiness of European citizens to support fair burden sharing with respect to refugees, if this is needed to uphold the achievements of the EU, such as Schengen (de Vries & Hoffmann, 2016).

In this context, this special issue emerges from research conducted in the EU-funded research project TransSOL devoted to the study of European solidarity (“European Paths to Transnational Solidarity in Times of Crisis”) running from 2015 to 2018 and coordinated by Christian Lahusen at the University of Siegen. The project received funding under the Horizon 2020 program (Grant Agreement No. 649435). The consortium of the project consisted in: the University of Siegen (Germany), the University of Sheffield (the United Kingdom), the Université de Genève (Switzerland), the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (France), the Glasgow Caledonian University (United Kingdom), the University Panepistimio Kritis (Greece), the University of Florence (Italy), the University of Warsaw (Poland), the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), and European Alternatives Ltd. (Germany and United Kingdom).

The articles in this special issue tackle various aspects of civic solidarity (see Lahusen & Grasso 2018). They aim to shed systematic light into levels and determinants of citizens’ solidarity by analyzing data informed by theoretically driven research questions from the same population survey conducted among citizens of eight European countries. Maria Grasso at the University of Sheffield coordinated the population survey for the project. The TransSOL survey includes approximately 2,000 respondents from each of the eight countries of the project (total N ~ 16,000): Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In the context of the project, the aim of the cross-national survey was to build a comparative dataset that would allow us to answer our theoretically relevant questions of interest such as those discussed above. To this end, we developed our own questionnaire to measure, among many other things, the levels of solidarity among the member states’ citizenry, and to help identify those social and political factors that might promote or inhibit solidarity both within the member states and across their borders. The survey was subcontracted to a specialized polling company (Info GmbH).

More specifically, in the next few paragraphs we look at the various contributions to this special issue. In their contribution on “Do Unto Others? Individual-Level Mechanisms of Political Altruism,” Marco Giugni (University of Geneva) and Maria T. Grasso (University of Sheffield) look at altruism in relation to the members of three main groups of beneficiaries—refugees and asylum seekers, unemployed people, and people with disabilities. They analyze why people act on behalf of each of these three groups without being a member of any of them or having close ties with any individuals in these groups. These respondents are then compared with those who are members of these groups and/or have close ties with people within them. This in turn allows to look at the factors underlying individual-level altruistic behavior. Their results show that political altruism emerges out of a variety of factors and is not reducible to social structure, attachment, or resources. On the other hand, they argue it is the result of the interaction of these influences. Moreover, influences vary when looking at support for different social groups.

In their contribution on “European Transnational Solidarity: Citizenship in Action?” Christian Lahusen (University of Siegen) and Maria Theiss (University of Warsaw) look at how widespread transnational European solidarity might be. They also explore beliefs and ideas that might pattern cognitively the popular conceptions of transnational European solidarity. In particular, they examine those individuals reporting to have supported people abroad through various practices. They focus on transnational European solidarity from the perspective of political citizenship. Findings show that solidarity activities in support of other Europeans were more widespread among those citizens with civic skills and commitments, stronger identification with the European Union, and preferences for more inclusivity in social rights.

In their contribution, “Ties of Solidarity and the Political Spectrum: Partisan Cleavages in Reported Solidarity Activity Across Europe,” Johannes Kiess (University of Siegen) and Hans-Jörg Trenz (University of Copenhagen and Arena, and University of Oslo) examine whether differences in solidarity engagement are linked to party affiliation. They look at whether adherents of right-identitarian and left-redistributive parties differ in their solidarity activism. They also examine whether differences can be explained by the nationality of the supported groups and examine patterns across a variety of European countries. They examine these questions by looking at cleavages in reported solidarity action in support of three different target groups: unemployed, disabled persons, and refugees. Their results show that partisan affiliation matters and cleavages in solidarity behavior follow ideological patterns. They also find that the supporters of right-wing populist parties are among those supporting citizens in their country (and foreigners) least, going against the exclusive-communitarian rhetoric. On the other hand, supporters of left and radical left parties are found to support both nationals and non-nationals. Similar patterns of a divide between an inclusive, solidary, and cosmopolitan left and a non-solidary right with low interests in community commitment are found across European countries.

In their contribution, “Politicization of Solidarity Toward Out-Groups: The Case of Refugees,” Nicola Maggini (University of Florence) and Eva Fernández Guzmán (University of Geneva) focus on solidarity behavior toward refugees. They compare this with solidary behavior in support of the disabled or the unemployed. They look at the ranking of preferences for solidarity beneficiaries and the link between political orientations and social dispositions. Their results show that respondents’ ranking preferences have less of an impact on solidarity practices toward refugees, which are supported by progressive political orientations. They argue that this means that support for refugees relies on a universalistic conception of solidarity and is linked to political commitment both to leftist positions on economic issues and to libertarian stances on cultural issues. Moreover, they also suggest that the latter only affect solidarity actions toward out-groups, which reveals tensions between universalistic-particularistic concerns reflected in individual perceptions of deservingness and the cultural-identitarian dimension of political conflict.

In “Welfare Attitudes and Expressions of (Trans)national Solidarity,” Anna Kurowska (University of Warsaw), and Olga Eisele and Johannes Kiess (University of Siegen) explore Europeans’ welfare attitudes and (trans)national solidarity behavior. They look at whether the welfare state diminishes or strengthens citizens’ motivations to become engaged in helping others. They distinguish between solidarity behavior toward others within the welfare state and outside the welfare state community of the respondent’s country. They further distinguish different others outside the welfare state, that is, between refugees, and citizens living in other countries, in EU countries and non-EU countries. They derive their variables from the concept of “multidimensional welfare attitudes” and focus on five crucial dimensions: welfare goals, range, degree, redistribution, and outcomes. They observe a “crowding in” effect in that higher support of the welfare state goes in line with solidary activity toward others including both “outsiders” and “insiders” of the national community.

In “Migration Incorporation Regimes and Institutionalized Forms of Solidarity: Between Unconditional Institutional Solidarity and Welfare Chauvinism,” Eva Fernández Guzmán (University of Geneva) looks at how citizenship models shape citizen’s attitudes on immigrant social rights. She examines the effect of the civic and cultural dimensions of the models of citizenship relative to welfare chauvinism and unconditional institutional solidarity toward immigrants. Results show that individual attitudes with respect to welfare eligibility of migrants differ along sociodemographic characteristics, political economic orientations, and social dispositions of deservingness.

In “Sharing Is Caring? Exploring the Relationship between Preferences for Online Participation and Support for Solidarity between EU Member States,” Olga Eisele (University of Siegen) and Verena K. Brändle (University of Copenhagen) look at the relationship between online participation and support for burden-sharing measures among EU member states. They operationalize social inclusion through online participation. They hypothesize that people who make more use of online participation channels are more critical in their evaluation of measures for burden sharing. Results lend support to their hypothesis. They interpret their results as an expression of the constraining disagreement regarding EU politics. They interpret negative effects as criticism of how solidarity in the European Union is implemented, not as opposition to solidarity in the European Union more generally.

Finally, in “Brexit, Division and Individual Solidarity: What Future for Europe? Evidence from Eight European Countries,” Simone Baglioni, Olga Biosca and Tom Montgomery (Glasgow Caledonian University) examine one expression of how recently solidarity has been put to the test by various crises. The decision in June 2016 by the electorate to vote to leave the European Union revealed this aspect in the British case. They wish to investigate the perceptions of other European citizens on this decision, given its potential to shape the present and future of the European Union. The authors aim here to explore and contrast cross-country evidence on individual perceptions on Brexit across Europe. They then aim to establish if an association exists between opinions on Brexit and individual solidaristic attitudes and behaviors. The complex relationships linking attitudes to Brexit and expressions of solidarity at different levels including the local, national, European, and beyond are then explored using multivariate regression.