Book reviews

Party Politics
17(6) 849859
The Author(s) 2011
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/1354068811416666
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Aleks Szczerbiak and Paul Taggart (eds) (2008)

Opposing Europe? The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism, Volume I: Case Studies and
Country Surveys.
London: Oxford University Press. 58.00, 403 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-925830-7.
Aleks Szczerbiak and Paul Taggart (eds) (2008)
Opposing Europe? The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism, Volume II: Comparative
and Theoretical Perspectives.
London: Oxford University Press. 53.00. 285 pp. ISBN 98-0-19-925835-2.
Reviewed by: Susan Milner, University of Bath
Aleks Szczerbiak and Paul Taggart, with their work on party-based Euroscepticism, have
substantially defined the field. These two collective volumes represent a major reference
point, although perhaps not the definitive word on the subject, since the second volume
also highlights avenues for future research.
The first volume presents a series of country case studies which, between them, cover
most European countries: 11 West European member states of the European Union (EU),
6 eastern European countries from the 2004 accession wave, and Norway, a country
which has so far chosen not to join the EU but which under the terms of association is
gradually adopting many of its policies. Although, as with any comparative volume,
there are gaps which are not explained (no Portugal, Netherlands, Luxembourg or
Greece, which may seem surprising given the Dutch rejection of the draft constitutional
treaty in 2005, and it might have been interesting to look at Switzerland given the discussion of Norway), this is certainly the most comprehensive overview of Euroscepticism in EU member states to date, and the introduction and synthetic chapters in the
second volume help to cover the missing countries. The breadth of coverage allows the
editors to fulfil their aim to systematically map and analyse the nature of Euroscepticism in the party systems of Europe in the period around 2002 (p. 1).
As has been noted elsewhere (see, for example, Flood [2009]), with the benefit of
hindsight the choice of 2002 is open to some dispute, particularly given the development
of antagonistic positions in the latter half of the 2000s around the draft constitutional
treaty. It reflects what could be seen as a narrow foundation for measuring party-based

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Party Politics 17(6)

Euroscepticism, that is: analysis of party positions mapped against electoral fortunes in a
specific time period. For example, party-based Euroscepticism in elections to the European Parliament (EP) or in referendums around European issues is largely excluded
from the case studies in volume 1, although Euroscepticism in EP elections is discussed
in the second volume. However, this narrow foundation is necessary in order to allow
systematic comparison; moreover, it does not preclude further studies which could either
extend the project into a longer time frame or provide complementary analysis.
The definition of party-based Euroscepticism has proved difficult. Building on
Szczerbiak and Taggarts earlier work, the chapters take as their definitional starting
point the distinction between hard and soft Euroscepticism, the former being defined
as principled objection to European integration (opposition to membership or advocacy
of withdrawal), and the latter covering a more diffuse range of contingent positions
which accept the principle of EU membership but reject further integration and/or
contest specific EU policy directions. In the second volume, the editors review their distinction at some length, acknowledging the advantages of more nuanced classifications,
particularly that of Peter Kopecky and Cas Mudde (2002). They argue in favour of the
parsimony of the hard/soft distinction while acknowledging the need to clarify the
borders of soft Euroscepticism, leaving open the possibility that further research might
provide a definitive answer.
Broadening the analysis to cover 25 countries, the editors identify three broad patterns
of party-based contestation over European integration: limited, open and constrained. Of
these, the first is the largest, reflecting the low salience of European issues in domestic
voting. Constrained contestation is restricted to newer member states and may be a transitional category, since authors tend to concur that patterns of Euroscepticism are likely
to converge on those of established member states. In seeking to explain why some states
exhibit limited and others open contestation, Szczerbiak and Taggart posit (tentatively)
that party systems which are given to alternation and have a tendency to binary competition are more likely to provide incentives for open contestation. However, it proves
difficult to isolate explanatory factors across countries.
Elements of explanation are offered by several chapters in the first volume (particularly the empirically rich chapter on Spain and the conceptually sophisticated chapters on
Sweden and on central and eastern European countries) which seek to analyse party positions in relation to ideology (cleavages) on the one hand, and institutional factors on the
other (political opportunity structures). This relationship is teased out to good effect in
the chapters by Charles Lees and by Nick Sitter and Agnes Batory in the second volume.
After reviewing a series of institutional variables, Lees concludes that political opportunity structures shape patterns of party-based Euroscepticism but not in a satisfactorily
systematic way across countries. He argues that rich contextualization by country experts
could help to elucidate these relationships on a case-by-case basis. The chapter by Sitter
and Batory provides a particularly helpful way of conceptualizing these dynamics, which
could usefully be adopted by country specialists as a framework for analysis. They suggest that the expression of Euroscepticism depends on trade-offs between a partys identity and longer term policy preferences (ideology) on the one hand, and party strategy
(the pursuit of votes and office, shaped by electoral systems and coalition games) on the
other. Their chapter also indicates that comparing across countries by political family

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could help to identify the drivers of party-based Euroscepticism by controlling to some

extent for the ideological dimension.
This and other chapters thus reinforce Taggarts early work on Euroscepticism as the
politics of opposition, and his work with Szczerbiak on hard and soft Euroscepticism,
while also suggesting ways of refining the conceptual framework. Overall, the two
volumes provide a comprehensive introduction to the study of Euroscepticism and invite
scholars to develop the conceptual framework through its application to empirical single
or multiple case studies.
References
Flood, Chris (2009) Dimensions of Euroscepticism, Journal of Common Market Studies 47:
91117.
Kopecky, Petr and Cas Mudde (2002) The Two Sides of Euroscepticism, European Union
Politics 3: 297326.

Richard J. Semiatin (ed.) (2008)

Campaigns on the Cutting Edge.
Washington: CQ Press. $35.95 (pbk), xvi 222 pp. ISBN 978-0-87289-579-9.
Reviewed by: Stephen J. Farnsworth, George Mason University
One of the most rapidly changing aspects of political campaigns in the US and elsewhere
involves the use of new technologies. Where not so long ago political consultants
bombarded our mailboxes with direct mail, we now have Twitter and bloggers. Where
fundraisers used to rely on public appearances and attack ads to bring in the cash, we
now have web page links that take credit cards, YouTube and Facebook. And, most
of all, winning the news cycle now means doing a lot more than giving Tom Brokaw
something new for the evening broadcast.
This edited volume brings together well-known academic voices who study various
aspects of modern political campaigning as well as some promising younger scholars
whose work has focused on the technological shifts now underway and how they can
be applied to the process of winning elections. The twelve chapters also include insights
from established campaign practitioners who are working to adjust their businesses to the
demands of conducting campaigns, as the book title indicates, on the cutting edge.
Taken together, most of these scholars and campaign workers argue that the
changes in campaigning in the Internet age are more evolutionary than revolutionary,
at least so far. Campaign ads may not just be seen solely on television anymore, but
for the most part the messages they convey are not all that different even if they end
up on YouTube. It has been a long time since any politician, particularly one with a
national or statewide profile, could imagine that the missteps in his or her personal
life would remain private. Bloggers and cell phone cameras may accelerate the process of disclosure, but they didnt create the considerable public demand for news

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