Referendums on Europe

Hildesheim University on 28/29 March 2019

Brexit stands out as one of the most consequential decisions in the long and diverse history of EU referendums across Europe. With the (former) day of the UK’s exit from the EU approaching, it was time to discuss the motives, dynamics and outcomes of such referendums on Europe. While EU integration is probably the “most voted-on issue in the world” (De Vreese und Semetko 2004: 4) and EU referendums have sparked a good deal of academic work, occasions are rare for in-depth interdisciplinary discussion on the issue. Against this background, we invited leading scholars and young academics from across Europe to present their work in a workshop on „Referendums on Europe: Motives, Dynamics, Outcomes“ at Hildesheim University on 28/29 March 2019. Papers/presentations were held in four panels on: a) motives for calling EU referendums, b) the dynamics of multi-level pre-referendum politics, c) EU referendum campaigns and results, and d) the consequences of referendum Outcomes. The first day of the workshop was concluded by a roundtable discussion.

Conveners: Wolf J. Schünemann & Kai Oppermann