‘Rational’ Explanations of Support for European Integration

Abstract

One of the most influential approaches to the study of support for the European integration process in the past decade has been the rational, cost-benefit — also termed ‘utilitarian’ — approach. In this chapter, the general idea of utilitarianism as applied to the study of opposition to European integration is outlined, along with its specific hypotheses, and illustrations of the empirical strength of these hypotheses are provided. The standard utilitarian arguments necessarily make assumptions about which categories of individuals are likely to benefit or lose from integration, but it is also important to consider perceptions of loss or gain. Thus, in contrast to utilitarian research on attitudes to integration, I also include such an analysis of perceptions of who has benefited and who has lost in the integration process.