Predictors of EU support change in the migration crisis context of 2014-2016

Abstract

This research aims to explore EU support formation change in the context of migration crisis. The objective of the thesis is to define EU support predictors and how this relation changed in the migration crisis of 2014-2016 context. Despite the expectation that EU support decreases in the aftermath of migration crisis, the empirical result proves, that EU support experiences a slightly upward trend after crisis. This research completes the previous scholarship with multidimensional definition of EU support formation, proving that the revision of the several predictors regarding a number of migration related dimensions of the attitude to the same phenomenon has greater explanatory power in comparison to one main reason of EU support formation. Furthermore, the research argues, that under the circumstances of migration crisis predictors of EU support formation were changed: political predictor meaningfully increased in its impact on EU support formation, while cultural predictor in the context of migration decreased in its role of explanation EU support formation after crisis. Finally, governments can more successfully conduct and communicate the EU policies regarding the migration issues to its citizens since they are aware of the mechanism of EU support formation citizens have, and act accordingly to the most meaningful components, that would resonate with the population more effectively and potentially EU support will experience meaningful upward trend.