Integrating Indifference: the Need to Study the Non-Polarisation of European Citizens

The paper addresses the issue of whether there has been a change in public attitudes towards European integration over the time, in terms of a passage from a permissive consensus of citizens towards a constraining dissensus (Hooghe & Marks, 2008; Down & Wilson, 2008). The thesis of constraining dissensus has been theorized by Hooghe and Marks in terms of progressive politicization of citizens and the polarization of their attitudes derived from the consolidation and prominence of the integration process. Building first on previous work of Down and Wilson (2008) and mobilizing a complementary longitudinal analysis of Eurobarometer data (1970-2002), this paper finds that the basic shift is one towards an indifferent or undecided attitude and not towards rejection. Thereafter, it contributes to the study of the processes of acceptance and/or resistance towards European integration, as well as its possible politicization, whilst concentrating more specifically on the non-polarization of a large proportion of ordinary citizens on European issues. Thus, next to the resistance generally studied and know as “Euroscepticism”, one also records during the last decade a reinforcement of the indifference and indecision of ordinary citizens. The evolution in the post-Maastricht period cannot simply be reduced to an increase in “Euroscepticism”. The non-polarization of a significant number of citizens is indeed an overwhelming and understudied phenomenon. The politicization of European issues does not necessarily lead to the polarization of citizens opinions; we argue here that it is necessary to incorporate the notion and the role of indifference into any reflection on the legitimacy of the European integration process