Europeanization, Nationalist-Populist Parties and Euroscepticism (comparisons between selected countries in Western and Eastern Europe)

My research concentrates on party-based Euroscepticism in two European Union member states in Western Europe (Germany and the Netherlands) and two in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria and Romania). The specific focus is on nationalist-populist factions and the degree to which they view the EU membership of their country as a threat to the country’s national identity, their freedom to express pro-nationalist sentiments and other salient nationalist concerns like their nation-state’s ability to exercise control over migration flows and propose legislation on issues like the preservation of national culture. The data gathered with the help of qualitative methods like semi-structured interviews and analyses of party manifestos is used to examine a number of propositions about the relationship between the type of nationalism prevalent in Eastern Europe (ethnic nationalism) as well as the one regarded as typical in the West (civic nationalism) and the ways in which Eurosceptic attitudes are framed. A number of comparative lessons are developed and the primary conclusion is that the differences between Eastern European and Western European populists in terms of how they perceive the EU impacts are not as pronounced as commonly portrayed in the literature, i.e. contrary to expectations Eastern European populists are not more likely (than their Western European counterparts) to view the situation of minorities in their countries through the prism of the EU. This study also offers some clues as to the way in which mainstream parties could engage anti-systemic ones like the nationalist-populists and encourage them to adopt more conciliatory attitudes towards the EU project. It also sheds light on the reasons for the current upsurge in Eurosceptic attitudes in traditionally EU-enthusiastic member states and proposes ways to counter this phenomenon on the party level.