Public Politicisation and Issue Responsiveness in the European Union

My research investigates democratic responsiveness in the EU: the extent to which European policy adjusts to track shifts in public opinion.


More particularly it investigates the extent to which European policy-making responds to the issue preferences of EU citizens. Whilst existing literature has allowed us to make conclusions on how public opinion affects whether the EU acts (by investigating the impact of anti-European sentiment on the volume of legislation), it has done little to inform us if public preferences influence where (in which policy domain) it acts. This is particularly important as citizens' preferences on the policy domains they want the EU to act on have changed drastically, with a shift from economic priorities (employment) to security priorities (terrorism and immigration).