Public Politicisation and Issue Responsiveness in the European Union

我的研究调查了欧盟的民主反应：欧洲政策调整以跟踪公众舆论变化的程度。更具体地说，它调查了欧洲政策制定在多大程度上回应了欧盟公民的问题偏好。虽然现有的文献使我们能够得出公众舆论如何影响欧盟是否采取行动的结论（通过调查反欧情绪对立法数量的影响），但它几乎没有告诉我们公众偏好是否影响欧盟在哪里（在哪个政策领域）采取行动。这一点尤其重要，因为公民对他们希望欧盟采取行动的政策领域的偏好发生了巨大变化，从经济优先（就业）转向安全优先（恐怖主义和移民）。

My research investigates democratic responsiveness in the EU: the extent to which European policy adjusts to track shifts in public opinion.More particularly it investigates the extent to which European policy-making responds to the issue preferences of EU citizens. Whilst existing literature has allowed us to make conclusions on how public opinion affects whether the EU acts (by investigating the impact of anti-European sentiment on the volume of legislation), it has done little to inform us if public preferences influence where (in which policy domain) it acts. This is particularly important as citizens' preferences on the policy domains they want the EU to act on have changed drastically, with a shift from economic priorities (employment) to security priorities (terrorism and immigration).