European by action: How voting reshapes nested identities
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14651165231175533 |
| Author | Ronja Sczepanski |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
European by action: How
voting reshapes nested
identities
Ronja Sczepanski
Center for Comparative and International Studies,
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Abstract
Although research has questioned the stability of identities, we know little about identity
change. I examine a political event as a driver of identity change, namely the Brexit vote.
I contend that the act of voting, choosing between two options, boosts the European
and British identity underlying the vote choice. I test whether the increased identifica-
tion with Europe or Britain comes with a reduction in the other identity. Using British
Election Study panel data in a two-way fixed-effects design, I show that voting to remain
increases identification with Europe but voting to leave does not increase British iden-
tification for Leavers. However, voting has no impact on how Remainers identify with
Britain or Leavers identify with Europe. The results contribute to the growing literature
on the link between politics and identities.
Keywords
European identity, national identity, voting, Brexit, European Union
Introduction
Referenda are transformative events in politics, different from elections in powerful ways.
In referenda, people decide about policies directly, rather than electing representatives
who then decide. Citizens sometimes exert this form of direct democracy in a situation
that determines the direction of their country, state, or locality in the future. Thus, refer-
enda in representative democracies are critical junctures that break the traditional pattern
Corresponding author:
Ronja Sczepanski, Center for Comparative and International Studies, ETH Zurich, Haldeneggsteig 4, 8006
Zurich, Switzerland.
Email: ronja.sczepanski@eup.gess.ethz.ch
Article
European Union Politics
2023, Vol. 24(4) 751–770
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/14651165231175533
journals.sagepub.com/home/eup
of political decision-making, during which people vote on issues affecting every citizen
in their country.
The 2016 United Kingdom’s European Membership Referendum vote, later called
Brexit vote, is a case in point (Hobolt et al., 2021; Maher et al., 2018). Researchers
argue that the Brexit vote has unleashed an identity conflict: creating new Remain and
Leave identities, dividing supporters and opponents of the European Union (EU)
(Hobolt et al., 2021), and fueling pre-existing conflicts between socio-structural groups
(Sobolewska and Ford, 2020). However, there is a lack of understanding of how
Brexit has transformed existing political identities, namely European and national ones.
People who have multiple identities, and thus identify with their nation but also with
Europe, benefit not only intergroup relations, but also the stability of multilevel systems
such as federal states or the EU (Hooghe and Marks, 2005, 2009; Risse, 2015). According
to this research, there is a dividing line between people who identify exclusively with
their nation and those who incorporate some sense of European identity into their self-
concept (Hooghe and Marks, 2009). For instance, holding a European identity on top
of the national identity leads to more favorable attitudes toward immigrants (Curtis,
2014), less Euroskepticism (De Vries and Van Kersbergen, 2007), and more support
for open borders (Karstens, 2020). However, can European and British identities
change during political events?
To answer this question, previous research has focused mainly on mutually exclusive
group categories and has significantly contributed to explaining conflicts between groups
(Hobolt et al., 2021; Kriesi et al., 2006; Sobolewska and Ford, 2020). However, there is
limited insight into the conflict between political identities, namely the British and
European identities, which I view as mutually complementary. Individuals self-identify
with multiple political groups; for instance, they feel European and British at the same
time. This identity structure had already shown its consequences in the Brexit vote, as
people who identified with Europe in addition to Britain were more likely to vote to
remain (Carl et al., 2019; Hobolt, 2016). Having a European identity in addition to a
national identity is central to the loyal support of the EU (Hooghe and Marks, 2009),
but it remains unclear whether and how referenda transform such identities and what con-
sequences these changes in identities have. I investigate these questions in the Brexit case.
I provide a theoretical and empirical account of who reshapes their identities by voting
in referenda and which identity is most likely to change. I highlight the effect of behavior
on identity change, arguing that the vote has a reinforcement effect on these identities.
This effect applies to more diffuse and moderately developed identities, and thus, in
the Brexit case, to European identity. Making a commitment to Britain belonging to
Europe by voting for the Remain camp during a critical point in history affects the
strength of individual identification with Europe. At the same time, strengthening a
diffuse identity does not weaken other entrenched identities. Empirically, I find that
Remainers strengthen their European identity while Leavers’levels of national identity
do not rise. The increase in European identity of Remainers is not accompanied by a sig-
nificant reduction in their self-identification with Britain. Thus, both identities persist.
The changes in identity that I find can have alternative explanations, including that
identities are affected by the shock of winning or losing, respectively, or social threat.
752 European Union Politics 24(4)
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