10/16/15 •  Announcements
▫  Another quiz will be uploaded to the IS (due on Thu)
▫  Begin thinking about the topic for your seminar paper
–  See instructions in the IS
▫  Office hours:
–  Mon 3-4pm; Wed 2-3pm (office #4.48)
•  The plan for today
▫  How do we explain variation in support for the EU?
▫  Self-interest as an explanation of people’s attitudes
▫  Analysis of Gabel and Palmer’s 1995 article
Three major explanations of
support for the EU
• Utilitarian explanation
▫  Economic rationality
▫  Based on self-interest
• Cueing rationality
▫  Domestic proxies (cues)
• Identity
1 10/16/15 Additional (minor) explanations
• Cognitive mobilization
• Age
• Religion
A closer look at instrumental
rationality
• What does the U.S. research show about
the effect of self-interest on attitudes?
• What are the kinds of self-interest that are
related to support for the EU?
Indicators of self-interest
• 1) Objective factors
▫  Trade with the EU, developmental assistance
from the EU, labor market skills (occupation,
education…)
• 2) Subjective factors
▫  A) Sociotropic evaluations
–  Satisfaction with the national economy
▫  B) Egocentric (pocketbook) evaluations
–  Satisfaction with personal financial situation
Back to diffuse and specific support
•  Imagine support was driven just by self-interest.
What kind of support would it be? Why?
•  What would it mean for the EU if support was
purely driven by self-interest?
▫  Consequences for regime stability in times such as
an economic crisis
2 10/16/15 Group work
Is self-interest still a valid
explanation?
•  Work in groups of 4-5 members.
•  Answer questions 1-3 from the handout.
•  Answer questions 4-6.
•  Be prepared to share your answers with the
class.
•  Recent studies still find that self-interest
explains support for the EU.
▫  Education
▫  Occupation
▫  Economic expectations
▫  Evaluation of EU’s competence (how the EU
performs in different policy areas)
How to prepare for the next class?
•  Read the assigned readings
▫  Bring them to class!
•  Submit discussion questions
•  Take the online quiz about the readings
•  Begin thinking about the topic you would like to
use for your seminar paper. May begin looking
for articles.
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