Fighting together, moving apart? European common defence and shared security in an age of Brexit and Trump
1 October 2018 - 1 October 2021
PI/s in Exeter: Professor Jason Reifler, Dr Catarina Thomson
Research partners: PI: Principal investigator: Harald Schoen (University of Mannheim). Co-investigators: Filip Ejdus (Belgrade), Martial Foucault (Paris), Catherine Hoeffler (Bordeaux), Stephanie Hofmann (Geneva), Pierangelo Isernia (Siena), Jean Joana (Montpellier), Theresa Kuhn (Amsterdam), Bogdan Radu (Babes-Bolyai), Jason Reifler (Exeter), Thomas Scotto (Glasgow), Seiki Tanaka (Leeds), and Catarina Thomson (Exeter).
Funding awarded: 977200EUR
Sponsor(s): Volkswagen Stiftung
About the research
The SecEUrity Project examines the dynamic relationship between elites and masses in policy-making about common defence in the multi-level European system.
Two overarching questions are at the heart of the project: What and how do elites and European mass publics think about greater (European) defence, security, and military integration? More specifically, the project seeks to achieve the following seven objectives:
(1) studying what mass publics and security elites understand by “common defence”;
(2) estimating the level of public support for or opposition to a vast array of possible forms of defence integration across Europe, including support for some form of European military;
(3) exploring differences in citizen perceptions and preferences across regions within the EU;
(4) identifying individual-level values, predispositions, attitudes, and demographic factors that shape support for or opposition to defence integration; (
5) examining how elite cues, social cues, and real-world events affect defence integration attitudes;
(6) analysing the interplay of media content, individual media exposure, and mass opinion toward European defence and security integration;
(7) evaluating how (and how accurately) elites perceive mass opinion toward European defence and security integration, and vice versa.