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Perceptions of Power: Voter Attribution of Responsibility within the European Union

Grant reference: RES-062-23-1522

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Book details

Blaming Europe? : attribution of responsibility in the European Union
A key component of democratic accountability is for citizens to understand “who is to blame”, yet little is known about how citizens attribute credit and blame in the European Union, and how it matters. "Blaming Europe: Attribution of Responsibility in the European Union" presents the first comprehensive account of how citizens assign blame to EU institutions, how politicians and the media attempt to shift blame, and finally how it matters for electoral democracy. Based on rich and unique data sources, Blaming Europe sheds light on all three of these aspects of attribution of responsibility in the European Union. A crucial question that arises is whether citizens rely on partisan biases or content-rich information when deciding who to blame. The answer is both. While citizens’ attributions are shaped by their attitudes towards the EU, information also serves to bring blame attribution into line with actual divisions of responsibility. Understanding how citizens attribute blame in the EU is of critical importance to debates on the role of public opinion and democracy in the European Union. The book demonstrates, promisingly, that well-informed citizens can make sense of the complex divisions of responsibility in the EU. However, it also reveals that even if citizens can make sense of those structures of governance that in itself has a rather limited effect on the quality of electoral democracy in the Union.
English

Primary contributor

Author Sara Hobolt

Additional details

Oxford University Press
01 November 2013
Hardback
Oxford
Pre-print

Cite this outcome

Harvard

Hobolt, Sara Author (2013) Blaming Europe? : attribution of responsibility in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Vancouver

Hobolt Sara (Author). Blaming Europe? : attribution of responsibility in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2013.