European Union Voting and the Dutch ‘Double No’: The 2005 and 2016 Referendums
Keywords:
European integration, citizens and EU governance, referendums, NetherlandsAbstract
What caused Dutch citizens to vote ‘no’ in the 2005 and 2016 referendums? How do these
referendum outcomes compare to voting patterns in European Union (EU) member states more generally?
How are national-level referendums related to European integration? In a comparative analysis, we explore
such questions based on information and data on two Dutch referendums, exploring the driving forces of voter
opposition in light of more general theories of EU-related voting. We find that perceived threats to identity
and culture mattered in the ‘Dutch double no’, while economic cost-benefit calculations and the actual contents
of the votes played a less dominant role.
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