Fighting for Europe: The EU's Democratic Pull Phenomenon in Ukraine, Poland and Belarus

Abstract

What drives ordinary citizens to want their country to join or stay in the European Union (EU)? Whilst scholarship addressed value-based dispositions as drivers of pro-EU positions, material benefits dominate explanations of support for EU accession and membership. New research suggests that it is precisely the growing import of being an adherent of liberal democratic values that drove citizens in countries as disparate as Ukraine, Poland and Belarus to support EU accession and remained the key driver for those already in the Union wanting to stay in. Employing national surveys and regression analyses, this article shows that (a) not only is a shift to supporting EU accession accompanied by citizens also moving towards supporting democracy in Ukraine; (b) this EU democratic pull phenomenon can also be identified amongst citizens of other EU neighbourhood countries, as well as in EU member states.