POSITIVARE INSTÄLLNING TILL EU UNDER KLIMATHOT? Ett bidrag till forskningen om EU-attityder

Sammanfattning: During the last decades different factors and explanations of EU attitudes have beenidentified throughout research and they have been described as multidimensional andcomplex. Earlier research has argued that some factors are more unstable over time thanothers but that they can all be susceptible to fluctuation and change. As environmental issueshave gained more salience, especially among EU-citizens, this thesis argues thatenvironmental concern should be used as an explanatory factor when studying EU attitudes.Especially when it comes to concern for global issues such as climate change. This thesissuggests that environmental concern, or, more specifically – concern with climate change –should be considered as one of the explanatory factors of EU support within EU-28. To testthis claim the thesis utilizes Eurobarometer data and controls for other relevant factorsestablished in the previous research as determinants of EU support. The results suggest thatthere seems to be a connection between environmental concern for the global environmentalissue climate change and EU support in this study, but further research is called upon.