Cues for Integration
Foreign Policy Beliefs and German Parliamentarians’ Support for European Integration
in German Politics and SocietyAll currencies in US Dollar
Abstract
How do foreign policy beliefs affect German parliamentarians’ (mps) support for European integration? Despite important advances, the literature has overlooked the effect of foreign policy beliefs on national representatives’ attitudes toward integration. This study provides a systematic investigation of the role foreign policy beliefs play in shaping German mps’ support for European integration. I argue that given the complex and contentious character of European integration politics mps derive heuristic cues from their foreign policy beliefs to form opinions on the desirability of integration. Using data from an original survey conducted with members of the seventeenth German Bundestag, I show that a belief in multilateralism increases support for European integration while isolationist and hawkish foreign policy orientations decrease support. These results indicate that support for European integration is not merely determined by party ideology, electoral pressure or economic considerations, but also has a psychological foundation shaped by politicians’ core beliefs about how the world of international politics operates.
Contributor Notes
A. Burcu Bayram (Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 2011) is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Arkansas and a research fellow at the Center for Global Cooperation Research at University of Duisburg-Essen. Her research integrates insights from political, social, and cognitive psychology into the study of international relations with a focus on international cooperation and global governance. Her current substantive areas of interest include compliance with European and international law, performance of international organizations, and global justice.