Managing constraint: frugal opposition to European fiscal solidarity

David Bokhorst; Magnus G. Schoeller

doi:10.1080/13501763.2024.2332697

Titel

Managing constraint: frugal opposition to European fiscal solidarity

Autor*in

David Bokhorst

European University Institute

Magnus G. Schoeller

Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften, Universität Wien

Abstract

The management of the COVID-19 crisis and, in particular, the Next Generation EU fund have shown that European leaders can find integrationist policy solutions despite increasing politicisation at home where democratic constraints may lead to a feared ‘multilevel politics trap’. Therefore, we ask whether and how national governments can manage such constraints and thus spring or avoid the trap. Theoretically, we argue that the agency of governments is a crucial factor for understanding the varying dynamics of politicisation in regional integration, as governments can raise or lower domestic audience costs by strategically interacting with their parliament or media. Empirically, we probe the plausibility of our theoretical propositions by examining constraint management and position-taking in Austria and the Netherlands in the context of European fiscal solidarity. Our results show that there is no inevitably self-reinforcing multilevel politics trap but that the effects of domestic constraint are, to a considerable extent, contingent on the agency of national governments.

Stichwort

PoliticisationEuropean integrationGovernmentsNext Generation EU

Objekt-Typ

journal article

Sprache

Englisch [eng]

Persistent identifier

phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:2085372

DOI

10.1080/13501763.2024.2332697

Erschienen in

Titel