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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The Circumstances and Dynamics of Eurosceptic Contagion

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This part of the book tries to explore to what degree the process under study is itself influenced—mitigated or amplified—by the decorum in which Eurosceptic Parties do well and in the process tests the corresponding hypotheses from the theoretical framework. I tackle possibility of Eurosceptic Contagion being part of a self-reinforcing mechanism, whereby growing public discontent with integration, growing popularity of antisystemic fringe parties, and the growing salience of the EU issue might go hand in hand, strengthening each other’s effect over time. The rise of Eurosceptic actors has been a dynamic phenomenon, closely intertwined with the development of the European Union, as well as more general socio-economic processes that took place within member states. Today’s Eurosceptic Parties have not always been as opposed to European Integration as they presently are (somewhere even pro-Integration as a counterweight to statist socialist policies on the national level). As these parties became more aware of the political and electoral potential that public policy positions opposing further or current Europeanization could convey, they added the EU issue to their repertoire and began to promote the issue ever more. Simultaneously, some of these parties doubled down on their anti-EU position, thus becoming more extreme in their opposition. With growing success at the ballot box comes more public attention to the issues they promoted, further driving electorates interest in their positions, thus increasing the potential voter base of these parties.