Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-nf276 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-15T07:08:30.862Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Public Opinion and European Integration: The Crisis of the 1970s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

David H. Handley
David H. Handley*
Affiliation:
University of Geneva, Switzerland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Public support and attitudes toward European integration and the Common Market as a set of integrative institutions traversed a crisis during the 1970s which few suspected. Evidence is presented which suggests that integrative efforts may have seriously lost ground rather than merely stagnating as had been forecast by the more pessimistic theorists and analysts of the 1960s. The decline in support can be linked to both integration-related events such as the attempts to enlarge the Community and the economic crisis of the mid-1970s. By the end of the decade, the decline in general support of European integration appears to have been reversed, probably because of the direct European elections and improvement in the economic situation. On the other hand, support for the Community continued to decline in the 1980s.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
European Journal of Political Research , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , December 1981 , pp. 335 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

*

Revised version of a paper presented at the University Association for Contemporary European Studies Annual Conference, University of Leeds, January 1981. The author is particularly grateful to J.-R. Rabier of the Commission of the European Community for his comments, suggestion and co-operation, and to the University of Geneva's Centre universitaire d'informatique for its co-operation and support.

References

Buchanan, W. & Cantril, H. (1953). How Nations See Each Other: A Study in Public Opinion. Urbana : University of Illinois Press. Google Scholar
Caporaso, J. A. (1973). ‘The Development of System Linkages in the European Community’, in Caporaso, J. A. and Roos, L. L. Jr., (eds.), Quasi-Experimental Approaches: Testing Theory and Evaluating Policy. Evanston : Northwestern University Press, 128–55. Google Scholar
Caporaso, J. A. (1974). The Structure and Function of European Integration. Pacific Palisades , California : Goodyear. Google Scholar
Caporaso, J. A. & Pelowski, A. L. (1971). ‘Economic and Political Integration in Europe: A Time-Series Quasi-Experimental Analysis’, American Political Science Review 65, 418–33. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coombes, D. (1970). Politics and Bureaucracy in the European Community. London : Allen & Unwin. Google Scholar
Coombes, D. (1974). ‘The Annual Report of the EEC’, Political Quarterly 45, 489–99. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deutsch, K. W. et al. (1957). Political Community and the North Atlantic Area: International Organization in the Light of Historical Experience. Princeton : Princeton University Press. Google Scholar
Deutsch, K. W. (1961). ‘Social Mobilization and Political Development’, American Political Science Review 60, 483–514. Google Scholar
Deutsch, K. W. (1966). ‘Contrôle des Armements et Efforts d'Integration dans le Complexe de la Politique Européenne’, Traduit d'après le texte publié par la Politische Vierteljareschrift, November 1966. Bruxelles : Service de Presse et d'information des Communautés européennes, 1967. Google Scholar
Deutsch, K. W. (1966b). ‘Integration and Arms Control in the European Political Environment: a Summary Report’, American Political Science Review 60, 354–65. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deutsch, K. W. & Merritt, R. L. (1966). ‘Effects of Events on National and International Images’, in Kelman, Herbert C., (ed.), International Behavior: A Social-Psychological Analysis. New York : Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 130–87. Google Scholar
Deutsch, K. W., Edinger, L. J., Macridis, R. C. & Merritt, R. L. (1967). France, Germany and the Western Alliance: A Study of Elite Attitudes on European Integration and World Politics. New York : Scribner's. Google Scholar
Easton, D. (1965). A Systems Analysis of Political Life. New York : Wiley. Google Scholar
Easton, D. (1973). ‘Theoretical Approaches to Political Support’, paper presented at the Conference on Political Support. University of Wisconsin, Madison . Google Scholar
Feld, W. J. & Wildgen, J. K. (1976). Domestic Political Realities and European Unification: A Study of Mass Publics and Elites in the European Community Countries. Boulder , Colorado : Westview press. Google Scholar
Gujarti, D. (1970). ‘Use of Dummy Variables in Testing Equality between Sets of Coefficients in Two Linear Regressions: A Note’, American Statistician 24, 50–2. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gujarti, D. (1970b). ‘Use of Dummy Variables in Testing for Equality between Sets of Coefficients in Linear Regressions: A Generalization’, American Statistician 24, 18–22. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, E. B. (1958). The Uniting of Europe: Political, Social and Economical Forces 1950–1957. London : Stevens. Google Scholar
Handley, D. (1975a). ‘Opinion Publique et Integration Européenne’, Economie et Humanisme 224, 55–71. Google Scholar
Handley, D. (1975b). Public Support for European Integration. Geneva : unpublished doctoral dissertation. Google Scholar
Handley, D. & Inglehart, R. (1972). West European Attitudes Toward the American People. Washington , D.C. : unpublished manuscript for the Brookings Institute. Google Scholar
Herz, T. A. & Scheuch, E. K. (1975). ‘Offentlische Meinung und Europäische Integration’, paper presented at the workshop on Public Opinion European Integration, ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, London . Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1967). ‘An End of European Integration American Political Science Review 61. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1970a). ‘Cognitive Mobilization and European Integration’, Comparative Politics 5. Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1970b). ‘La Fin de l'Intégration Européenne?’ in Sidjanski, D., (ed.), Méthodes Quantitatives et Intégration Européenne. Geneva : Institut universitaire d'études européennes, 65–94. Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1970c). ‘Ongoing Changes in West European Political Cultures’, paper presented at the VIIIth World Congress of the International Political Science Association, Munich . Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1970d). ‘Post Scriptum: Attitudes Face à l'Intégration Européenne en 1970’, in Sidjanski, Dusan, (ed.), Méthodes Quantitatives et Intégration Européenne. Geneva : Institut universitaire d'études européennes, 151–58. Google Scholar
Ingiehart, R. (1970e). ‘Public Opinion and Regional Integration’, International Organization 24, 764–95. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1970f). ‘The New Europeans: Inward or Outward-Looking?’, International Organization 24, 129–39. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1971). ‘Changing Value Priorities and European Integration’, Journal of Common Market Studies 10, 1–36. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1977). The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles among Western Publics. Princeton : Princeton University Press. Google Scholar
Johnson, J. (1972). Econometric Methods, Tokyo : McGraw-Hill Kogakusha Ltd., 2nd edition. Google Scholar
Lerner, D. (1958). The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East. New York : Free Press. Google Scholar
Lindberg, L. N. & Scheingold, S. A. (1970). Europe's Would-Be Polity: Patterns of Change in the European Community. Englewood Cliffs : Prentice-Hall. Google Scholar
Merritt, R. L. (1968). ‘Visual Representation of Mutual Friendliness’, in Merritt, R. & Puchala, D., Western European Perspectives on International Affairs: Public Opinion Studies and Evaluations. New York : Praeger, 111–41. Google Scholar
Puchala, D. J. (1970). ‘The Common Market and Political Federation in Western European Public Opinion’, International Studies Quarterly 14. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russett, Bruce M. (1963). Community and Contention: Britain and America in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge : M.I.T. Press. Google Scholar
Shepherd, R. J. (1975). Public Opinion and European Integration. Westmead : Saxon House. Google Scholar
Shonfield, A. (1973). Europe: Journey to an Unknown Destination. Harmondsworth : Pelican Books. Google Scholar
Sidjanski, D. (1979). Europe Elections. Paris : Stanké. Google Scholar
Trieman, D. J. (1977). Occupational Prestige in Comparative Perspective. New York : Academic Press. Google Scholar
Publications of the Commission of the European Community, Brussels. Eurobaromètres, l'opinion publique dans la Communauté européenne, Nos. 3–14 (1975–80). Google Scholar
Rabier, J. R. (1977). La confiance mutuelle entre les peuples: Un indicateur de l'integration européenne Document de travail. Google Scholar
L'opinion des Européens sur les aspects regionaux et agricoles du Marché Commun, L'unification politique de l'Europe et l'information du public. Résultats partials et provisoires d'une enquête par sondages dans les six pays de la Communauté européenne. December 1972. Google Scholar
Les Européens et l'unification de l'Europe. Analyse des résultats d'une enquête par sondage menée en fevrier-mars 1970 dans les six pays de la Communauté européenne. Europe as the Europeans See It. Initial results of an opinion poll carried out in the nine countries of the European Community (September 1973).Google Scholar