Defensive Citizenship in Europe: Definition and Measurement
| Date | 01 February 2021 |
| Author | Izhak Berkovich |
| Published date | 01 February 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929920906996 |
| Subject Matter | Early Results |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920906996
Political Studies Review
2021, Vol. 19(1) 148 –156
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929920906996
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Defensive Citizenship in
Europe: Definition and
Measurement
Izhak Berkovich
Abstract
In this article, I define and measure the new phenomenon of defensive citizenship in Europe.
The literature suggests that defensive citizenship engagement is related to attempts by entitled
citizens to preserve their threatened interests. It has been on the rise worldwide, especially in
Europe. Based on studies and reports on the phenomenon, I argue that defensive citizenship can
be assessed among entitled citizens (those born in the country, whose both parents were born
in the country) based on mistrust towards political institutions, anti-immigration attitudes and a
challenging personal situation. The analysis, based on European Social Survey data, ranks European
countries and uncovers concentrations of countries with high levels of defensive citizenship in
Eastern Europe. I contend that this phenomenon has significant implications for the democratic
functioning of European countries and the stability of the continent.
Keywords
citizenship, defensive, entitlement, Europe, government, immigration
Accepted: 26 January 2020
Introduction
In recent years, there has been growing acknowledgement that a large section of the popu-
lation in the developed world is turning a cold shoulder to traditional politics and political
institutions and adopting an anti-immigration agenda. These groups have been labelled
‘Trump supporters’, ‘Brexit supporters’, ‘angry white men’, ‘strangers in their own land’,
and so on (e.g. Allen and Lawler, 2016; Burnett, 2017; Chaffin, 2017; Hochschild, 2018;
Kimmel, 2013). Past research has described numerous aspects of the phenomenon, but
often in anecdotal manner; therefore, derived limited insights. Moreover, we lack an
empirical measure that captures the complexity of the phenomenon in a manner that would
allow identifying this trend in the population in different national contexts. Thus, in this
article, I offer an initial conceptualization and measurement of this phenomenon, that I
Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel, Raanana, Israel
Corresponding author:
Izhak Berkovich, Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel, 1 University Road,
Raanana 4353701, Israel.
Email: izhakber@gmail.com
906996PSW0010.1177/1478929920906996Political Studies ReviewBerkovich
research-article2020
Early Results
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