Book Review: John FitzGibbon, Benjamin Leruth and Nick Startin (eds), Euroscepticism as a Transnational and Pan-European Phenomenon: The Emergence of a New Sphere of Opposition
| Author | Eugenio Salvati |
| Published date | 01 November 2017 |
| Date | 01 November 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1478929917713459 |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsEurope |
668 Political Studies Review 15(4)
terrorism have become prevalent. The book is
likely to exceed readers’ expectations about
right-wing activity over the course of more
than half a century in Germany – where one
might intuitively expect to have seen exhaus-
tive efforts to mitigate the threat of right-wing
terrorism, especially given Germany’s former
intimate relationship with right-wing violence
and extremism.
Scott N Romaniuk
(University of Trento)
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929917719407
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Euroscepticism as a Transnational and
Pan-European Phenomenon: The
Emergence of a New Sphere of Opposition
by John FitzGibbon, Benjamin Leruth and
Nick Startin (eds). Abingdon: Routledge, 2016.
198pp., £90.00 (h/b), ISBN 9781138917651
This volume, edited by John FitzGibbon,
Benjamin Leruth and Nick Startin, tackles a
relevant topic for current studies concerning
European integration: the strengthening of
Euroscepticism. The book considers how
transnational and Pan-European Euroscep-
ticism is strengthening, and shifts the analysis
of the phenomenon away from the classical
areas of study in this field, which is the impact
of Euroscepticism on parties and the analysis
of citizens’ attitudinal data. Moving away from
the narrower paradigm of national party sys-
tems, the authors try to explain the functioning
dynamic of transnational Euroscepticism, and
in order to accomplish this task, the volume
studies this phenomenon along several differ-
ent lines.
The book is divided into 10 chapters which
deal with new specific topics about Euro-
scepticism. Chapter 1 presents a framework for
the analysis of transnational Euroscepticism,
while chapters 2–4 focus on Pan-European
Euroscepticism within the European Parliament
(EP) with regard to parties on both the right
and the left. Chapter 6 is devoted to the analy-
sis of transnational social movements, and
the seventh chapter focuses on transnational
groups opposing the transatlantic trade and
investment partnership (TTIP) – the proposed
trade agreement between the EU and the US.
Chapter 8 is devoted to referendum campaigns;
chapter 9 studies the attention paid by the
media to Eurosceptic Members of the European
Parliament (MEPs); and the last chapter
reflects on how transnational Euroscepticism
may be related to religious groups.
The importance of this book is because
of the new approach used to study Euro-
scepticism, which can be summarised within
two main concepts: (1) Euroscepticism is a
mainstream phenomenon, no longer rele-
gated to niche parties and which affects all
European societies (and this makes it a real
transnational phenomenon); and (2) it is a
constitutive political element of the integra-
tion process.
The great strength of the book’s authors is
their ability to delineate these elements
with straightforward empirical analysis
which corroborates the important theoretical
insights. Furthermore, the chapters show the
reader how a Eurosceptic network is cur-
rently in formation, and how this connection
may be part of a broader, even if embryonic,
European public sphere. Another key ele-
ment of the volume is its ability to gather
together different aspects concerning
Euroscepticism (the role of the media, social
groups, etc.) that were previously analysed
separately, and which before this attempt
were not used to provide a complete and
coordinated snapshot of this new and perva-
sive phenomenon.
Euroscepticism as a Transnational and
Pan-European Phenomenon provides Euro-
pean integration scholars with a picture of
the transnational and Pan-European anti-
integration movement which is challenging the
EU and has produced the first and most com-
plete form of politicisation of the EU sphere,
even though the goal is to disrupt the Union
itself. This book is strongly recommended
to scholars of European integration and
Euroscepticism.
Eugenio Salvati
(University of Pavia)
© The Author(s) 2017
Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1478929917713459
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