Legitimacy and Trust as Victims of Institutionalized Austerity

In this ARENA report, Martin Moland investigates the long-term effects of the Eurozone crisis on EU legitimacy in austerity countries.

The sovereign debt crisis created a fiscal strain on the Eurozone periphery countries and led to the implementation of several austerity programs, such as budget cuts and labor market reform. The aim of this report is to investigate the long-term effects of the crisis on the legitimacy of the EU in austerity countries.

The report uses quantitative methodology to look at changes in support for the EU, both in terms of institutional trust and support for membership. It finds that there has been a far larger decline in austerity countries than in non-austerity countries, and that this gap seems to continue even after the crisis. In this way, imposing austerity policies that were meant to promote European growth in the long term could lead to a political weakening of the European order.

Martin Moland has a Master of Political Science from the University of Oslo. He was affiliated with ARENA through the student scholarship.

ARENA Report 1/18 (pdf)

Legitimacy and Trust as Victims of Institutionalized Austerity: A Statistical Analysis of Persistent Effects of Austerity on Trust in and Support for the EU.
Martin Moland

September 2018 

Published Sep. 6, 2018 11:48 AM - Last modified Sep. 10, 2018 9:44 AM