Communication and Mobilisation
In this dissertation, democratic performance evaluations of the EU are the central concept, which will be assessed from three perspectives. First, the impact of national institutional quality of democratic performance evaluations is assessed, using a multilevel model that encompasses objective indicators of national institutional quality per country. Second, the impact of the election campaign is assessed, using two wave panel survey data, combined with content analysis data, both gathered during the EP election campaign of 2009. Third, the impact of interpersonal communication is studied, both in a real-world and an experimental setting. The results indicate that national institutional quality is used as a yardstick to evaluate the democratic performance of the EU, especially by people who are knowledgeable about domestic politics. Furthermore, evaluative media messages and interpersonal communication about the EU do have an effect on EU evaluations. Over the course of an election campaign, media do reach European citizens with evaluative messages. Similarly, and even to a greater extent, interpersonal communication helps people to form and change their opinions on the democratic performance of the EU. However, the influence of interpersonal communication depends on the level of mutual agreement discussants perceive.
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