Political institutions and collective attachments
| DOI | 10.1177/1465116519861779 |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| Author | Dino Hadzic,Deniz Aksoy |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Political institutions and
collective attachments
Deniz Aksoy
Department of Political Science, Washington University in
St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
Dino Hadzic
Department of Political Science, Washington University in
St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
Abstract
We argue that the geographic distribution of power across different levels of govern-
ment influences citizens’ attachments to alternative collective groups. In federal states
where authority is shared between the center and regions, individuals are more likely
to have attachments to multiple groups. We present evidence for the impact of state
structure on collective attachments using the case of supranational European identity.
We show that in countries where state structure empowers sub-state governments,
individuals manifest stronger attachments to a supranational European community than
they do in unitary states. This study indicates that when we examine individuals’ attach-
ments to a collective group, the political-institutional context in which these individuals
are embedded is an important factor to consider.
Keywords
Collective attachments, Eurobarometer, European identity, federalism, institutions
European integration has been accompanied by an ambitious project that seeks to
promote a collective European identity (Bruter, 2003: 1149; Lutz et al., 2006).
One of the explicit objectives of establishing European Union (EU) citizenship
in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty was to encourage a “shared feeling of community
Corresponding author:
Deniz Aksoy, Department of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1063, One
Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Email: denizaksoy@wustl.edu
European Union Politics
2019, Vol. 20(4) 584–607
!The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1465116519861779
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among European citizens” (Verhaegen et al., 2017: 163). Thus, EU institutions in
cooperation with member states are allocating significant financial and adminis-
trative resources to programs and initiatives that aim to foster a supranational
European identity. For example, in 2007 the EU launched a six-year program
called “Europe for Citizens” with a price tag of 215 million Euros.
1
The program
was later extended to 2020 with an additional financial commitment of over 185
million Euros.
2
One of the main goals of the program is to help develop a common
European identity among citizens of EU member states.
3
Numerous other initia-
tives such as the introduction of the Euro and EU flag, the establishment of 9 May
as “Europe Day”, and education-related policies like the ERASMUS program also
attempt to foster a supranational identity (Bruter, 2003: 1152; Petit, 2007; Risse,
2003, 2010; Sigalas, 2010).
While some scholars question the feasibility and necessity of cultivating a European
identity (Schmitter, 2000; Smith, 1992), others see collective identity as essential to the
legitimacy of any political system in general (Beetham and Lord, 1998; Easton, 1965)
and the EU in particular (Bruter, 2005; Fuchs, 2011; Risse, 2010). Accordingly, a
voluminous literature examines European identity and the factors that shape
individuals’ attachments to a supranational European community.
Existing studies focus on a long list of individual level determinants, such as age,
income, and education (Citrin and Sides, 2004a; Lutz et al., 2006), exposure to
news and the symbols of European integration (Bruter, 2003), cross-border mobil-
ity (Mazzoni et al., 2018; Sigalas, 2010), learning about the EU at school
(Verhaegen et al., 2013), immigrant status (Agirdag et al., 2016), social interactions
with other Europeans (Stoeckel, 2016), and trust in other European citizens
and institutions (Verhaegen et al., 2017). However, we know much less
about the influence of contextual factors that can shape individuals’ attachments
to collective groups.
In this article, we argue that an important yet overlooked factor that influences
supranational attachments in Europe is the political-institutional context of the
EU member states. We argue that a country’s state structure (i.e. the geographic
distribution of political power across different levels of government) influences the
extent to which that country’s residents identify as members of a supranational
European community and feel attached to that community. Compared to individ-
uals in unitary states, those in federal ones are more familiar with the practice of
multilayered governance and have more exposure to and experience with multiple
levels of identification. Individuals who have experience with multilayered gover-
nance in the domestic context are more likely to be comfortable with another layer
of governance and express attachments to a collective identity affiliated with this
additional layer. Accordingly, we argue that, controlling for other relevant factors,
residents of federal states have a stronger sense of European identity and more
robust attachments to a supranational European community than do residents of
unitary states.
To examine the relationship between state structure and European identity, we
analyze Eurobarometer survey data and find evidence supporting our argument.
Aksoy and Hadzic 585
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