New publication by Mads Dagnis Jensen

Anders Ejrnæs (Roskilde University) and Mads Dagnis Jensen (CBS/EGB) have published the article Go Your Own Way: The Pathways to Exiting the European Union in the journal Government & Opposition. The article deals with why people in different countries would like to leave the European Union. It begins with the case of British referendum on the membership of the EU in 2016 where studies have suggested that people voting for Brexit were motivated by anti-globalization, anti-multiculturalism and anti-elite sentiments. It then argues that, little is known about how these factors are related and whether citizens in other member states share similar reasons for wanting to exit the EU. Methodologically, this question is addressed by utilizing path models on data from the European Social Survey, with respondents in 17 countries. Empirically, this article reveals considerable cross-country variation, which implies that motivations for voting Leave should be assessed on a country-by-country basis. Yet, two main pathways are identified. First, lower education is related to more negative attitudes towards multiculturalism, which increases the probability of voting Leave. Second, lower income decreases the level of trust in the political establishment, which again increases the probability of voting Leave. Theoretically, this implies that the anti-globalization model is subsumed by the anti-multiculturalism and anti-elite models, giving rise to two new mechanisms.

Based on the article, the authors have published an analysis in the Danish newspaper Politiken: https://politiken.dk/debat/debatindlaeg/art8062986/Vil-nogen-f%C3%B8lge-efter-briterne-ud-af-EU