Has the European Union (EU) succeeded in socializing citizens to support the democratic values it claims to promote? On the face of it, the prevailing skepticism precludes any expectation of a successful socialization of EU citizens to the EU values. Yet, according to the socialization hypothesis, citizens' support for these values is expected to increase as countries accumulate more years of the EU membership. Using survey data to isolate distinct dimensions of democratic values, we examine differences among countries in this regard, as well as changes within countries over time. Results confirm the socialization hypothesis, showing that support for democratic values is generally higher in countries with more years of the EU membership, and that this support trends upwards over time.
AbadieA (2005) Semiparametric difference-in-differences estimators. Review of Economic Studies72(1): 1–19.
2.
AlmondGAVerbaS (1963) The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes in Five Nations, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
3.
AndersenRFetnerT (2008) Cohort differences in tolerance of homosexuality attitudinal change in Canada and the United States, 1981–2000. Public Opinion Quarterly72(2): 311–330.
4.
ArielyGDavidovE (2011) Can we rate public support for democracy in a comparable way? Cross-national equivalence of democratic attitudes in the World Value Survey. Social Indicators Research104(2): 271–286.
5.
BearceDHBondanellaS (2007) Intergovernmental organizations, socialization, and member-state interest convergence. International Organization61(4): 703–733.
6.
BellAJonesK (2015) Explaining fixed effects: Random effects modeling of time-series cross-sectional and panel data. Political Science Research and Methods3(1): 133–153.
7.
BellucciPSandersDSerricchioF (2012) Explaining European identity. In: SandersDBellucciPTokaG (eds) The Europeanization of National Politics? Citizenship and Support in a Post-enlargement Union, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 61–90.
8.
BrewerMB (1991) The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin17: 475–482.
9.
BruterM (2003) Winning hearts and minds for Europe: The impact of news and symbols on civic and cultural European identity. Comparative Political Studies36(10): 1148–1179.
10.
BruterM (2005) Citizens of Europe? The Emergence of a Mass European Identity, New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
11.
BrykASRaudenbushSW (1992) Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods, Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
12.
ChartrandTLBarghJA (1999) The chameleon effect: The perception–behavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology76(6): 893–910.
13.
CheckelJT (2003) “Going Native” in Europe? Theorizing social interaction in European institutions. Comparative Political Studies36(1–2): 209–231.
14.
CheckelJT (2005) International institutions and socialization in Europe: Introduction and framework. International Organization59(4): 801–826.
15.
CitrinJSidesJ (2004) More than nationals: How identity choice matters in the new Europe. In: HerrmannRKRisseTBrewerMB (eds) Transnational Identities: Becoming European in the EU, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc, pp. 161–185.
16.
De VriesCEVan KersbergenK (2007) Interests, identity and political allegiance in the European Union. Acta Politica42(2): 307–328.
17.
Della SalaV (2010) Political myth, mythology and the European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies48(1): 1–19.
18.
DelheyJ (2007) Do enlargements make the European Union less cohesive? An analysis of trust between EU nationalities. Journal of Common Market Studies45(2): 253–279.
19.
DeutschKW (1954) Political Community at the International Level: Problems of Definition and Measurement, Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
20.
DixonJC (2008) A clash of civilizations? Examining liberal-democratic values in Turkey and the European Union. The British Journal of Sociology59(4): 681–708.
21.
DuchRMTaylorMA (1993) Postmaterialism and the economic condition. American Journal of Political Science37: 747–779.
22.
DuchesneSFrognierAP (1995) Is there a European Identity? In: NiedermayerOSinnottR (eds) Public Opinion and Internationalized Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 193–226.
23.
EastonD (1965) A Framework for Political Analysis, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
24.
EichenbergRCDaltonRJ (2007) Post-Maastricht Blues: The transformation of citizen support for European integration, 1973–2004. Acta Politica42(2): 128–152.
25.
EtzioniA (2007) The community deficit. Journal of Common Market Studies45(1): 23–42.
26.
European Commission (2001) European governance: A White Paper, COM 428.
European Union (2007) Treaty of Lisbon amending the treaty on European Union and the treaty establishing the European Community, signed at Lisbon, 13 December 2007. Available at: http://www.lisbon-treaty.org/wcm/the-lisbon-treaty.html (accessed 2 May 2015).
29.
FairbrotherM (2014) Two multilevel modeling techniques for analyzing comparative longitudinal survey datasets. Political Science Research and Methods2(1): 119–140.
30.
FøllesdalA (2006) Subsidiarity, democracy, and human rights in the constitutional treaty of Europe. Journal of Social Philosophy37(1): 61–80.
31.
FloydFJWidamanKF (1995) Factor analysis in the development and refinement of clinical assessment instruments. Psychological Assessment7(3): 286–299.
32.
HarpazG (2011) European integration in the aftermath of the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon: “Quo Vadis”?’. European Public Law17(1): 73–89.
33.
HoggMA (2006) Social identity theory. In: BurkeP (ed.) Contemporary Social Psychological Theories, Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 111–136.
34.
HoogheLMarksG (2007) Sources of Euroscepticism. Acta Politica42(2): 119–127.
35.
InglehartR (2003) How solid is mass support for democracy—And how can we measure it?Political Science and Politics36(1): 51–57.
36.
InglehartRNorrisP (2003) Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change around the World, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37.
InglehartRWelzelC (2005) Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
38.
KedarOShivelyWP (2005) Introduction to the special issue. Political Analysis13(4): 297–300.
39.
KennedyR (2013) The role of supranational identity in promoting democratic values. European Union Politics14(2): 228–249.
40.
Kittilson MC and Schwindt-Bayer L (2010) Engaging Citizens: The Role of Power-Sharing Institutions 72(4): 990–1002.
41.
KlingemannHD (1999) Mapping political support in the 1990s: A global analysis. In: NorrisP (ed.) Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Governance, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, pp. 31–56.
42.
KotzianPKnodtMUrdzeS (2011) Instruments of the EU's external democracy promotion. Journal of Common Market Studies49(5): 995–1018.
MeinhofUH (2004) Europe viewed from below: Agents, victims, and the threat of the other. In: HerrmannRKBrewerMBRisseT (eds) Transnational Identities: Becoming European in the EU, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 214–244.
45.
MeulemanBDavidovESchmidtP (2013) Social location and value priorities: A European-wide comparison of the relation between social-structural variables and human values. In: SilkeKIOscarW (eds) Society and Democracy in Europe, New York, NY: Routledge.
46.
MoravcsikA (2000) The origins of human rights regimes: Democratic delegation in postwar Europe. International Organization54(2): 217–252.
47.
NeundorfA (2010) Democracy in transition: A micro perspective on system change in post-socialist societies. The Journal of Politics72(4): 1096–1108.
48.
NiedermayerO (1995) Trust and sense of community. In: NiedermayerOSinnottR (eds) Public Opinion and Internationalized Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 227–245.
49.
OrbellJMDawesRMVan De KragtAJ (1990) The limits of multilateral promising. Ethics100(3): 616–627.
50.
ParsonsC (2002) Showing ideas as causes: The origins of the European Union. International Organizations56(1): 47–84.
51.
RisseT (2010) A Community of Europeans? Transnational Identities and Public Spheres, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
52.
RobinsonGMcNultyJEKrasnoJS (2009) Observing the counterfactual? The search for political experiments in nature. Political Analysis17(4): 341–357.
53.
RohrschneiderR (1999) Learning Democracy: Democratic and Economic Values in Unified Germany, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
54.
RohrschneiderR (2002) The democracy deficit and mass support for an EU-wide government. American Journal of Political Science46(2): 463–475.
55.
SchildJ (2001) National v. European Identities? French and Germans in the European multi-level-system. Journal of Common Market Studies39(2): 331–351.
56.
SchmidtVA (2008) Discursive institutionalism: The explanatory power of ideas and discourse. Annual Review of Political Science11: 303–326.
57.
Schimmelfennig F (2007) European regional organizations, political conditionality, and democratic transformation in Eastern Europe. East European Politics & Societies 21(1): 126–141.
58.
SchimmelfennigF (2010) The normative origins of democracy in the European Union: Toward a transformationalist theory of democratization. European Political Science Review2(2): 211–233.
59.
SchwartzSH (1999) A theory of cultural values and some implications for work. Applied Psychology48(1): 23–47.
60.
SheaferTShenhavSR (2013) Political culture congruence and political stability: Revisiting the congruence hypothesis with prospect theory. Journal of Conflict Resolution57(2): 232–257.
61.
TajfelH (1981) Human Groups and Social Categories: Studies in Social Psychology, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
62.
WelzelC (2013) Freedom Rising: Human Empowerment and the Quest for Emancipation, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
63.
YoungsR (2004) Normative dynamics and strategic interests in the EU's external identity. Journal of Common Market Studies42(2): 415–435.
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.
