Conservatism, social isolation and political context: why East Europeans would leave the EU in exit referendums

Gherghina, S. and Tap, P. (2022) Conservatism, social isolation and political context: why East Europeans would leave the EU in exit referendums. International Political Science Review, (doi: 10.1177/01925121211061453) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

The British decision to leave the European Union after the 2016 referendum raises questions about who could be next. This article analyzes why citizens in East European Member States would vote to leave the European Union in the event of further referendums. It proposes an analytical framework that seeks to explain this strong form of Euroscepticism through four variables that are rarely linked to the European Union: political apathy and alienation, dissatisfaction with domestic democracy and economy, conservative values, and social isolation. We use individual-level data from the 2018 wave of the European Social Survey to show that citizens’ conservative attitudes and social isolation are robust determinants of a potential European Union exit vote in Eastern Europe. We also identify several country-specific causes, which means that the European Union faces particular challenges across political settings.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This article is based upon work from COST Action ‘Constitution-making and deliberative democracy’ (CA17135), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gherghina, Dr Sergiu
• Authors: Gherghina, S., and Tap, P.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: International Political Science Review
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 0192-5121
• ISSN (Online): 1460-373X
• Published Online: 08 February 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in International Political Science Review 2022
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License