Crumbling in the face of cost? How cost considerations affect public support for European security and defence cooperation

Matthias Mader, Moritz Neubert, Felix Münchow, Stephanie C Hofmann, Harald Schoen and Konstantin Gavras
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Matthias Mader: Department of Politics and Public Administration, 26567University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Moritz Neubert: School of Social Sciences, 26573University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Felix Münchow: School of Social Sciences, 26573University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Stephanie C Hofmann: Department of Political and Social Sciences, 10185European University Institute, Fiesole, Italy
Harald Schoen: School of Social Sciences, 26573University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Konstantin Gavras: School of Social Sciences, 26573University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

European Union Politics, 2024, vol. 25, issue 3, 483-503

Abstract: In surveys, Europeans routinely express high levels of support for a common security and defence policy of the European Union. Do these responses reflect real demands or superficial support that would crumble if the issue was politicised? This article provides new answers to this question. We conducted pre-registered survey experiments with more than 40,000 respondents from 25 European countries in which we randomly varied whether respondents received information about potential costs of two hypothetical cooperative activities: military operations and defence procurement. Support for these activities was systematically lower when costs were mentioned. We conclude that, in the event of politicisation, there is considerable potential for shifts in opinion and that caution is required in deriving a mandate for specific activities from high approval rates for cooperation in general.

Keywords: CSDP; framing; politicisation; post-functionalism; public opinion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:25:y:2024:i:3:p:483-503

DOI: 10.1177/14651165241236777

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