Blaming Europe? Voters, Elites and the Media in the European Union
In this lecture, Professor Sara Hobolt discusses her recent book, 'Blaming Europe? Responsibility without Accountability in the European Union' (co-authored with James Tilley). Hobolt examines a key component of democratic accountability, namely 'who is to blame' in the European Union.
Drawing on rich and unique data sources Hobolt discusses how citizens assign blame to the EU, how politicians and the media attempt to shift blame and finally, how it matters for electoral democracy. A key conclusion is that although voters are often capable of accurately assigning responsibility, they are not able to hold their EU representatives to account via the ballot box in European elections due to the lack of an identifiable 'European government' to reward or punish. As a consequence, when citizens hold the EU responsible for poor performance, but are unable to sanction an EU incumbent, they lose trust in the EU as a whole instead. Hobolt also examines the 2014 European Parliament in light of this ‘accountability deficit’ in the European Union.
About Sara Hobolt
Professor Sara Hobolt is the Sutherland Chair in European Institutions at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Previously, she has held posts at the University of Oxford and the University of Michigan. She has published extensively on elections, public opinion and the European Union. In 2010, she was awarded the Best Book prize by the European Union Studies Association for her book Europe in Question: Referendums on European Integration (Oxford University Press, 2009). Her most recent book is Blaming Europe? Responsibility without Accountability in the EU (Oxford University Press, 2014, with James Tilley). Sara Hobolt is Vice Chair of the European Election Studies (EES), an EU-wide project studying voters, parties, candidates and the media in European Parliamentary elections. She was the BBC television election expert in the 2009 and 2014 European elections.
Location
The lecture will take place in REC-C3.01 (Nieuwe Achtergracht 166).