Campaigning Against Europe? The Role of Euroskeptic Fringe and Mainstream Parties in the 2009 European Parliament Election

In this article, we analyze political parties' campaign communication during the 2009 European Parliamentary election in 11 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK). We study which types of issues Euroskeptic f...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of political marketing 2013-01, Vol.12 (1), p.77-99
Main Authors: Adam, Silke, Maier, Michaela, de Vreese, Claes H., Schuck, Andreas R. T., Stetka, Vaclav, Jalali, Carlos, Seeber, Gilg U. H., Negrine, Ralph, Raycheva, Lilia, Berganza, Rosa, Róka, Jolán, Dobek-Ostrowska, Boguslawa, Nord, Lars, Balzer, Matthias, Baumli, Manuela
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accession
campaign communication
co-orientation of Euroskeptic and pro-European parties
Communication
comparative content analysis
Content Analysis
Elections
Europe
European integration
European Parliament elections
European Union
Euroskeptic parties
Legislative Bodies
Parliamentary elections
Political Communication
Political Integration
Political mobilization
Political Parties
United Kingdom
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this article, we analyze political parties' campaign communication during the 2009 European Parliamentary election in 11 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK). We study which types of issues Euroskeptic fringe and Euroskeptic mainstream parties put on their campaign agendas and the kind and extent of EU opposition they voice. Further, we seek to understand whether Euroskeptic and non-Euroskeptic parties co-orient themselves toward each other within their national party systems with regard to their campaigns. To understand the role of Euroskeptic parties in the 2009 European Parliamentary elections, we draw on a systematic content analysis of parties' posters and televised campaign spots. Our results show that it is Euroskeptic parties at the edges of the political spectrum who discuss polity questions of EU integration and who most openly criticize the union. Principled opposition against the project of EU integration, however, can only be observed in the UK. Finally, we find indicators for co-orientation effects regarding the tone of EU mobilization: In national political environments where Euroskeptic parties strongly criticize the EU, pro-European parties at the same time publicly advance pro-EU positions.
ISSN:1537-7857
1537-7865
1537-7865
DOI:10.1080/15377857.2013.752245