Bulletin n. 2/2011
October 2011
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Downs William M.
    A project ‘doomed to succeed’? Informational asymmetries, euroscepticism, and threats to the locomotive of integration
    in Contemporary Politics , Vol. 17, n. 3, September ,  2011 ,  279-297
    Evidence abounds about the fortunes to be gained in national and European Parliament elections by avowedly eurosceptic political parties. Consequently, a rich literature exists on the broad phenomenon of euroscepticism, in particular its frequent and volatile packaging with nationalism, xenophobia and anti-immigrant welfare chauvinism. This article takes up an ongoing debate about the intervening role of information (sources of information, understanding of the way the EU works, forms of information seeking) in shaping negative attitudes. Eurobarometer data along with original survey responses from elected representatives in subnational assemblies of three countries reveal (1) the significant relationship between euroscepticism and information deficiency, (2) the surprising receptivity of some eurosceptics to gaining new information about the EU, and (3) the potency of information exposure in mitigating anti-EU sentiments.
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