| Abstract [eng] |
The Party-based Euroscepticism: The Influence of the European Refugee Crisis and Brexit in Denmark SUMMARY Over the past ten years, the European Union (EU) has endured a series of crises with 2015 Europe’s refugee crisis and ongoing Brexit being the most prominent ones. In addition to the EU’s crises, the EU has faced the rise of Euroscepticism. Scientists overwhelmingly agree that Euroscepticism and EU’s crises are related, however, the relation between them are analyzed rarely and insufficiently. Taking this into account, this master thesis examines the link between recent EU’s crises and party-based Euroscepticism in Denmark. The case of Denmark is extraordinary because of its rich history in case of Euroscepticism. Denmark is well known for its numerous referendums on EU integration, an exclusive right to opt-outs within EU’s policy and the rise of Eurosceptic parties, which currently have more than one third seats of the Danish Parliament. The aim of the thesis is to analyze the Danish parties’ electoral and other documents and ascertain the alterations in parties’ positions towards EU and their Euroscepticism during the EU’s crises. The tasks of thesis are: 1) to overview the studies of Euroscepticism and its shifts during the crises as well as to define hard and soft Euroscpeticism; 2) to propose the research design which woulde proper to analyze development of stances on EU and Euroscepticism during the crises; 3) to identify political parties positions on EU and its changes during the years 2011-2019; 4) trace the link between the recent crises and the development of party-based Euroscepticism and its content. The analysis showed that Refugee‘s crisis and Brexit have an visble yet different impact on parties‘ stances and Euroscepticism. During the Refugee‘s crisis parties did not change their stances, however, their stances‘ argumentation changed with respect to the crisis‘s themes and its impact is still visible. Meanwhile, Brexit had a strong impact on parties‘ stances right after the referendum as Eurosceptic parties tightened their stances radically. However, Brexit became a prolonged process and its impact on Euroscepticism decreased noticeably. During the analysis it turned out that the Eurosceptic parties are the only parties which are prone to change their stances, because all pro- European parties kept their pro-European stances during both crises. This could be explained by party‘s strategical position, because opposition parties are prone to be more Eurosceptic unless they have coalition potential, which could result in becoming pro-European party. |
