Abstract
The series of recent crises (EURO, refugees, backsliding, Brexit) challenge the self-portrayal of the European Union (EU) as a community of shared values. Against this backdrop, we analyse European Values Study data from 1990 till 2020 to assess the level and change in publics’ acceptance of the EU’s officially propagated values: personal freedom, individual autonomy, social solidarity, ethnic tolerance, civic honesty, gender equality and liberal democracy. We find that EU publics support these values strongly and increasingly over time. The EU-member publics are also remarkably distinct culturally from Eastern European non-EU-nations, especially concerning individual freedoms and gender equality. Simultaneously, however, member nations internalize EU-values at different speeds–alongside traditional religious fault lines that continue to differentiate Europe–in the following order from fastest to slowest: (1) Protestant, (2) Catholic, (3) Ex-communist and (4) Orthodox countries. In conclusion, the EU writ large evolves into a distinct value-sharing community at different speeds.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 569-590 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | Journal of European Integration |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 9 Aug 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Funding
The work of the second author was supported by the HSE University Basic Research Program.
Keywords
- culture
- EU-values
- European Union
- religious legacies