Legitimacy crisis, Brexit Flashcards
Normative legitimacy
If a regime or institution lives up to a set of standards by which it is judged (moral or ethical standards, for example not committing genocide, proper representation)
Sociological legitimacy
If people believe a regime or institution is normatively legitimate (more empirical, public support for a regime)
You might think a regime isn’t normatively legitimate, but the majority of people in that country thinks the government is legitimate, it is sociologically legitimate
Drivers of EU politicisation
- economic
- cultural
- institutional
This is conditional on political entrepeneurs and their ability to politicise the EU, which also depends on the electoral system in which they find themselves
Economic drivers of EU politicization
- Backlash against embedded neoliberalism (bias towards free market in EU)
- Winners vs losers of globalisation due to the neoliberal economics in EU
Cultural drivers of EU politicization
- Struggle of nationalism (refugees, transfer of competences to EU level) vs supranationalism
- Discussion of liberalism vs conservatism
Institutional drivers of EU politicisation
- Authority transfer towards Brussels –> integration by stealth (public wasn’t aware of integration)
- Crises and the capability to handle them, this put the EU and its democratic deficit in the spotlight and people started noticing this more and more
- EU democratic and communication deficit –> Who takes credit? National leaders will claim good decisions the EU makes and blame the EU when something goes wrong. It’s also hard for the EU to reach national citizens due to 27 different countries with different languages.
Trends in EU politicisation
- Increases when there are new Treaties, crises or other noticable development
- Increase in Euroscepticism in national parliaments since the start of the century due to populists exploiting crises and elite sentiments for more nationalist attitudes
- In 2014 EP had 130 seats that are for the abolition of the EU
- Euroscepticism is all over Europe, causes vary per region (Hungary and Austria high)
Trends in voting for EP
- Turnout is decreasing
- There was an increase after Brexit due to more interest
- People have a disinterest in the EU and are more likely to vote for national elections
Summary UK relationship with EU
UK leaving negotiations for EEC and Euratom. EC membership was vetoed twice by France. 1975 referendum on EU membership was 67% yes. Caused trouble with obstructionist attitude of UK. BBQ, opt-outs of EMU, obstruction of deeper integration in Amsterdam Treaty and reluctance in Nice. Opt-outs in Eurocrisis. Big part in slowing process of European integration.
Timeline of 2016 UK referendum on EU membership
- David Cameron elected as tory PM
- Massive win for UKIP in EP election
- Cameron re-elected and announces EU referendum due to domestic pressure, which also came from within his party. This was a gamble to please his own party members, as he believed the UK would vote to stay in and he even campaigned for this.
- EU proposes talks for a better deal with UK, if they choose to stay
- Brexit referendum with 52% vote for leaving
Remain campaign Brexit
Key message for the remain campaign was that it may be bad now, but it will be worse if we leave. It would lose access to the EU single market, it would lead to a reduction of workers’ rights protection and it would decrease the stability of the country in general. It was a weak campaign, mostly about stability.
Leave campaign Brexit
Much stronger. Boris Johnson was more charismatic and new. The key message was “let’s take back control” over “our money, our economy, our borders, our security and our taxes”. They claimed it would lead to freedom. Painted the EU as distant, unaccountable and elitist. Leaving would be beneficial for the ‘working people’ of this country, instead of the elitists. They even said: “the people of this country have had enough of experts”.
Tabloids role in anti-EU sentiment
Populist character. Headlines such as: “EU wants to merge the UK with France”, “EU killers and rapists we’ve failed to report”, and “EU to ban selling eggs by the dozen”.
Factors in majority for leaving EU UK
- Stronger leave campaign
- Tabloids populist headlines
- Lack of EU know-how
- Nationalist sentiment
Labour vs Conservative attitude towards EU switch
Initially Labour was Eurosceptic and Conservative pro-Europe. This switched (Even divide in Conservatives, majority of the parliamentary votes to stay in EU came from Tories) due to economic issues becoming less important, while cultural and identity issues became more important.