Euroscepticism as a Persistent Phenomenon*
Earlier versions of this article were presented at the First Workshop of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies Collaboration Research Network on Euroscepticism, University of Surrey, July 2011, and at the University Association of Contemporary European Studies 41st Annual Conference, Cambridge, September 2011. Many thanks are due to all those involved in the discussions and refereeing that made this article and special issue possible, notably Oliver Daddow and Michael Holmes for their work at a JCMS workshop in February 2012.
Abstract
In the two decades since the emergence of the European Union at Maastricht there has been a concerted attempt to build a European political space, typified by the debates on constitutionalization and democratization. Much less noticed, but no less important, has been the mobilization of publics, interest groups and political parties against the integration process. In the light of the failure to realize the Laeken objectives, the stabilization of an anti-integration bloc in the European Parliament, recurrent ‘no’ votes in national referendums and the emergence of an increasingly co-ordinated movement of critical interest groups, it is argued in this article that this opposition has become embedded and persistent, at both European and national levels. This will have considerable consequences for the Union itself and the way it has chosen to largely ignore sceptical voices to date.
