Euroscepticism Level of French Parties Determined by the Content-analysis of Their Pre-election Manifestos

Abstract

The dynamics of Euroscepticism intensity of some French parties is analysed in the given article with the use of Attitude to European integration index. The degree of criticism of the EU is evaluated quantitatively (1-13 points) based on the following data extracted from 2010-2017 party manifestos: attitude to the principal idea of European integration, affective and instrumental support or discontent of the EU, the perception of the EU as an (un-) accountable institution. The elaborated method was proven to be instrumental and reliable for Euroscepticism studies by finding correspondence between the quantitative values of the Index and Russian scholars’ qualitative estimates. This standardized approach to measurement allowed not only to reveal the general attitude of a particular party towards European integration, but also to compare the obtained estimates with indicators for past years, for other parties, and also in other countries. The developed scale let ascertain some strengthening of National Front’s and J.-L. Melenchon’s supporters’ (nowadays – from “Unbowed France”) Euroscepticism and weakening criticism of the EU by gaullists from the “Union for the Popular Movement” and the “Republicans”. Relatively stronger Euroscepticism of the French Communist Party in comparison to the Socialist Party has been confirmed.

Keywords

• the european union
• euroscepticism
• quantitative method
• france
• party the national front
• politics
• european union