European Solidarity in Times of Crisis: Insights from a Thirteen-Country Survey

Description

The euro crisis, several sovereign debt crises, the Great Recession, the refugee crisis, and Brexit have all challenged Europeans’ willingness to show solidarity with other European citizens and member states of the European Union. European Solidarity in Times of Crisis provides a clear theoretical framework to understand European solidarity for the first time. It offers a systematic empirical approach to determine the strength and causes of European solidarity. The authors distinguish between four domains of solidarity and test a set of theoretically derived criteria with a unique dataset to investigate European solidarity. Based on a survey conducted in thirteen EU member states in 2016, the empirical analysis leads to some unanticipated results. Europeans display a notably higher degree of solidarity than many politicians and social scientists have presumed so far. This especially applies to the support of people in need (welfare solidarity) and the reduction of territorial disparities between rich and poor EU countries (territorial solidarity), but also to the domain of fiscal solidarity (financial support of indebted EU countries). This optimistic view is less true for the domain of refugee solidarity. While citizens of western and southern EU countries accept the accommodation of refugees and their allocation between European countries, the majority of people in eastern European countries do not share this point of view. The book will appeal to students and scholars in fields such as comparative sociology, political science, social policy and migration research, and European studies. It is also relevant to a non-academic audience interested in the development of the European project. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of tables Acknowledgements 1 Introduction – European crises and the existence of European solidarity 1.1 Setting the stage 1.2 Structure and main results of the book Note References 2 Theoretical framework – conceptualising and understanding European solidarity 2.1 European crises and the issue of European solidarity 2.2 Defining solidarity: nailing jelly to the wall 2.3 The space of solidarity: national, European, and global solidarity 2.4 Criteria to determine the existence of European solidarity 2.5 Data and methods 2.6 Situating our study and reviewing the literature Notes References 3 Fiscal solidarity – supporting member states in financial need 3.1 The European sovereign debt 3.2 How strong is fiscal solidarity? 3.3 Divided over European fiscal solidarity? 3.4 Conclusion Notes References 4 Territorial solidarity – reducing inequality 4.1 The development of territorial disparities in Europe after the crisis 4.2 How strong is European territorial solidarity? 4.3 Divided over European territorial solidarity? 4.4 Conclusion on territorial solidarity Notes References 5 Welfare solidarity – supporting Europeans in need 5.1 European welfare states under pressure 5.2 Is there an overwhelming majority for European welfare solidarity? 5.3 Attitudes towards a European welfare system 5.4 Emerging social cleavages for European welfare solidarity? 5.5 Conclusion on European welfare solidarity Notes References 6 Refugee solidarity – coping with high numbers of asylum seekers 6.1 The two faces of the European refugee crisis 6.2 How strong is European solidarity with refugees? 6.3 Sharing the burden in the refugee crisis 6.4 Conclusions on refugee solidarity Notes References 7 Conclusion – in search of Europe’s futures 7.1 Summary of the findings 7.2 The paradox: strong European solidarity on the one hand and the rise of right-wing nationalism on the other Notes References Appendix: Data set, variables, methods A.1 Technical background information about the survey A.2 Variables A.3 Methods References Index