Distance Matters: Place, Political Legitimacy and Popular Support for European Integration

Abstract: Theorists of globalization often assume that technology has eclipsed distance as a sociologically and politically significant variable. This article counters this assumption. Based on insights obtained from the literature on regionalist revival and local democracy and on experimental results on the relationship between distance and emotional involvement, we develop a series of hypotheses concerning the role of geographical distance in explaining support for the polity to which one belongs. We then test these hypotheses with Eurobarometer data relative to support for the European Union (EU). The results confirm the article's hypothesis, open new perspectives on the potential constraints faced by a geographically expanding EU, and provide insights on policies that the EU could implement to counter these constraints.