This study sets forth a social identity explanation of the link between supranational identity and democratic values, and, thus, for cross-border value diffusion. This explanation is tested with data from 19 regions in Europe from the latest wave of the World Values Survey using multilevel ordered logit models. The results reveal a little-studied relationship between the supranational identification of respondents within the European framework and stronger support for the postmaterialist values that have been previously linked to successful democratization. Conversely, stronger national and local identification is associated with weaker support for these values. The use of multilevel methods also reveals several interesting patterns in more traditional explanations of the adoption of democratic values.
AbramsonPRInglehartR (1994) Education, security, and postmaterialism: A comment on Duch and Taylor's ‘Postmaterialism and the economic condition'. American Journal of Political Science38(3): 797–814.
2.
BellamyR (2008) Citizenship, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
3.
BellinE (2000) Contingent democrats. World Politics52: 175–205.
4.
BendixR (1978) Kings or People, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
5.
BollenKAJackmanRW (1985) Political democracy and the size distribution of income. American Sociological Review50(4): 438–457.
6.
BrewerMB (1979) In-group bias in the minimal intergroup situation: A cognitive-motivational analysis. Psychology Bulletin86(2): 307–324.
7.
BrewerMB (1991) The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin17: 475–482.
8.
BrewerMB (1999) The psychology of prejudice: Ingroup love or outgroup hate. Journal of Social Issues55(3): 429–444.
9.
CareyS (2002) Undivided loyalties: Is national identity an obstacle to European Integration?European Union Politics3(4): 387–413.
10.
ChristinT (2005) Economic and political basis of attitudes towards the EU in Central and East European countries in the 1990s. European Union Politics6(1): 29–57.
DuchRMTaylorMA (1993) Postmaterialism and the economic condition. American Journal of Political Science37(3): 747–779.
15.
DuchRMTaylorMA (1994) A reply to Abramson and Inglehart's ‘Education, security, and postmaterialism'. American Journal of Political Science38(3): 815–824.
16.
FossumJE (2001) Identity-politics in the European Union. Journal of European Integration23(4): 373–406.
17.
GelmanAHillJ (2006) Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18.
GibsonJLDuchRM (1994) Postmaterialism and the emerging Soviet democracy. Political Research Quarterly47(1): 5–39.
19.
Gleditsch KS and Ward MD (2008) Diffusion and the spread of democratic institutions. In: Simmons BA, Dobbin F and Garrett G (eds) The Global Diffusion of Markets and Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 261--302.
20.
GujaratiDN (2009) Basic Econometrics, 5th edn. New York: McGraw Hill.
21.
HayesBCMcAllisterIStudlarDT (2000) Gender, postmaterialism, and feminism in comparative perspective. International Political Science Review21(4): 425–439.
22.
HoggMA(2006) Social identity theory. In: BurkeP (ed.) Contemporary Social Psychological Theories, Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 111–136.
23.
HoggMAAbramsD (1990) Social Identifications: A Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations and Group Processes, London: Routledge.
24.
HoggMAMullinBA(1999) Joining groups to reduce uncertainty. In: AbramsDHoggMA (eds) Social Identity and Social Cognition, Oxford, UK: Blackwell, pp. 249–279.
HoogheLMarksG (2005) Calculation, community and cues: Public opinion on European integration. European Union Politics6(4): 419–443.
27.
HuntingtonSP (1996) The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the New World Order, New York: Simon and Schuster.
28.
Hymans JEC (2002) Applying social identity theory to the study of international politics. Presented at the 2002 Conference of the International Studies Association, March 24--27, New Orleans, LA.
29.
InglehartRWelzelC (2005) Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University.
30.
JacobsDMaierR(1998) European identity: Construct, fact and fiction. In: GastelaarsMde RuijterA (eds) A United Europe: The Quest for a Multifaceted Identity, Maastricht: Shaker, pp. 13–34.
31.
JenkinsR (2008) Social Identity, London: Routledge.
32.
KennedyR (2010) Supranational identity, democratic attitudes, and political participation: The EU and Moldova. European Union Politics11(4): 511–532.
33.
KopsteinJSReillyDA (2000) Geographic diffusion and the transformation of the postcommunist world. World Politics53(1): 1–37.
34.
KuhnT (2011) Europa ante portas: Border residence, transnational interaction, and Euroscepticism in Germany and France. European Union Politics13(1): 94–117.
35.
KurzbanRToobyJCosmidesL (2001) Can race be erased? Coalitional computation and social categorization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences98(26): 15 387–15392.
36.
LiQReuvenyR (2003) Economic globalization and democracy: An empirical analysis. British Journal of Political Science33(1): 29–54.
37.
LipsetSM (1959) Some social requisites of democracy. American Political Science Review53(1): 69–105.
MarxK(1900[1888]) Theses on Feuerbach. In: EngelsF (ed.) Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, Moscow: Progress Publishers, pp. 97–101.
44.
MercerJ (1995) Anarchy and identity. International Organization49(2): 229–252.
45.
MonroeKR (2008) Cracking the code of genocide. Political Psychology29(5): 699–736.
46.
MonroeKRMcDermottR (2010) Nicole’s father is NOT German! The immutability of differences and the social construction of their moral and political salience. PS43(1): 77–81.
47.
MonroeKRHankinJVan VechtenRB (2000) The psychological foundations of identity politics. Annual Review of Political Science3: 419–447.
48.
MullerENSeligsonMA (1994) Civic culture and democracy: The question of causal relationships. American Political Science Review88(3): 635–652.
49.
O’DonnellG (1998) Horizontal accountability in new democracies. Journal of Democracy9: 112–126.
50.
O'Loughlin J, Ward MD, Lofdahl CL, et al. (1998) The diffusion of democracy, 1946--1994. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 88(4): 545--574.
51.
PevehouseJC (2002) With a little help from my friends? Regional organizations and the consolidation of democracy. American Journal of Political Science46(3): 611–626.
52.
Rabe-HeskethSSkrondalA (2008) Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling Using Stata, 2nd edn. College Station, TX: Stata Press.
53.
RueschemeyerDStephensEHStephensJD (1992) Capitalist Development and Democracy, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
54.
SchimmelfennigF (2001) The community trap. International Organization55: 47–80.
55.
SchimmelfennigF (2007) European regional organizations, political conditionality, and democratic transformation in Eastern Europe. East European Politics and Societies21(1): 126–141.
56.
SchimmelfennigFScholtzH (2008) EU democracy promotion in the European neighborhood. European Union Politics9(2): 187–215.
57.
SearsDO(1993) Symbolic politics: A social psychological theory. In: IyengarSMcGuireWJ (eds) Explorations in Political Psychology, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, pp. 113–149.
58.
StarrH (1991) Democratic dominoes: Diffusion approaches to the spread of democracy in the international system. Journal of Conflict Resolution35: 356–381.
59.
TajfelH (1970) Experiments in intergroup discrimination. Scientific American223: 96–102.
60.
TodorovaMN (1997) Imagining the Balkans, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
61.
TurnerJC(1982) Toward a Cognitive Redefinition of the Social Group. In: TajfelH (ed.) Social Identity and Intergroup Relations, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 15–40.
62.
WelzelCInglehartR (2005) Liberalism, postmaterialism, and the growth of freedom. International Review of Sociology15(1): 81–108.
63.
WendtA (1999) Social Theory of International Politics, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University.
64.
WhiteheadL(1996) Three international dimensions of democratization. In: WhiteheadL (ed.) The International Dimensions of Democratization, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3–24.
65.
World Bank (2010) World development indicators. Available at: data.worldbank.org (accessed 20 November 2009).
66.
World Values Survey Association (2009) World Values Survey 2005-2008. Available at: www.worldvaluessurvey.org (accessed 15 October 2009).
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
