Indicators used in PhD projects

From the initial design of the ESR projects to the synthesis of findings, a key role has been played by the development of indicators of what would count as a legitimacy crisis in the case of the EU.

PLATO started off by distinguishing indicators along two dimensions. The one, indicators of democratic legitimacy such as public control, political equality, participation, representation, accountability, a public sphere, civil society relations, and political community. The second, a series of behavioural attitudinal indicators that can be used to investigate the legitimacy of any political system: support, trust, awareness of the political system, compliance, complaint, protest and so on. As shown in the below table summarising the indicators used in each project, each PhD project involves different combinations of indicators along the two dimensions. A large part of each of the 15 PhD projects has, therefore, involved further theoretical specification of particular indicators; or, in other words, the formulation of testable expectations of how components of legitimacy and legitimacy crisis are likely to function under particular conditions.

That has had two results. First, in providing a general template for theory development through the specification of general indicators of legitimacy and legitimacy crisis in particular contexts; and second through our own contribution to a better theoretical specification of legitimacy and legitimacy crisis as standard-dependent, actor-dependent and context-dependent in the case of the EU.

In operationalising indicators in their own research, the ESRs were supported by a living review. This showed how the two dimensions of indicators used by PLATO followed from (a) general conceptions of legitimacy crisis; from (b) three models of how a legitimacy crisis might develop in the case of the EU and (c) from theories and methods commonly used in the normative and sociological/empirical study of legitimacy. How each PhD project operationalises each indicator is also set out in a joint book that writes up important findings of the PLATO project through chapters based on the individual projects, edited by Chris Lord, Peter Bursens, Dirk De Bièvre, Jarle Trondal and Ramses Wessel.

Indicators of democratic legitimacy
ESR1	Learning Europe at its borders: how deployments to migration hotspots affect Europeans’ understandings of themselves and society	Identity
ESR2	Harmonised asylum policies in the EU? The role of street level bureaucrats in the implementation of the Common European Asylum System	Non-compliance and discretion
ESR3	The role of actors in the legitimation or delegitimation of MLG structures: a claims-making analysis of the politicisation and depoliticisation of EU state aid policy	Attention Awareness of the political order Politicisation Public sphere
ESR4	The uncertain world of the Court of Justice of the European Union: the legitimacy of the European judiciary in the 21^st century	Co-operation and conflict on rules Compliance Disregard
ESR5	European fiscal policy and banking union: how collective goods theory can explain variations in delegations of power to the EU in the wake of the financial crisis	Ability to solve collective action problems
ESR6	Understanding the legitimation of controversial institutions: stakeholder critique and legitimation of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)	Commonalities of worth and of interest Diffuse support: trust, identity, tolerance
ESR7	Legitimacy of the European Semester: does parliamentary involvement make a difference?	Parliamentary participation and involvement Implementation
ESR8	New understanding of EU legitimacy and anti-corruption: the role of the national parliaments in embedding democracies	Accountability Participation Trust in institutions
ESR9	The public and the Euro: on legitimacy, visibility and political imagination	Salience Awareness of the political order Politicisation Public sphere Public political thought
ESR10	Political trust differentiation in the EU multilevel governance: how and why people trust their European, national and local governments	Trust
ESR11	Talking about Europe: legitimacy and identity at the border	Emotions and emotional identification
ESR12	Stakeholder involvement as legitimation strategy? An illustration of EU financial agencies	Acceptability Fairness
ESR13	Choiceless Europe? Political legitimation in Britain and Spain during the financial and economic crisis	Trust in institutions Discourse and justification in the public sphere Complaint, protest and criticism
ESR14	The EU’s post-crisis legitimacy and the UK public sphere	Public sphere Salience of discourses Animation of debate
ESR15	Analyzing the unexpected outcomes of the EU’s normative power in the South Caucasus	Contestation vs. acceptance of normative claims

Published Sep. 23, 2022 10:50 AM - Last modified Sep. 23, 2022 10:50 AM

Indicators used in PhD projects

Indicators of democratic legitimacy