Conditions of International Solidarity (CONSOLI)

Project Description

Aims and central research question

What makes citizens support international solidarity? To better understand the conditions of support of international solidarity, CONSOLI integrates three main components of the redistributive chain:

• Donors (redistribution from)
  First, what are the conditions of international solidarity, at the level of the donors? How is support constructed by group identities and how do norms of group conformity impact on citizens’ willingness to support aid?
• Recipients (redistribution to)
  Second, who deserves international solidarity? How do need, control and reciprocity in the recipient countries affect citizens’ readiness to support solidarity, both from a backward- and a forward-looking perspective?
• Institutions (redistribution through)
  Third, how does the institutional setup linking donors and recipients influence support for solidarity? Do strong international and European institutions impact citizens’ confidence in international solidarity, and if so, how?

Background

Problems without passports oftentimes lead to rising international inequalities. In response to such rising inequalities, international solidarity received extensive attention in the public and academic debate. However, since its legitimacy hinges on public support, there is a need to reconcile international obligations and national democracy. CONSOLI provides the next leap forward in our understanding of the conditions of international solidarity, by developing and testing a refined conceptual model on the distributive chain, integrating the redistribution from, to and through components in a unified framework. .

Methods

The project designs and conducts two original cross-national surveys. The first survey will be fielded among 12,000 individuals in eight European countries; the sample countries vary in terms of EU net-recipient versus net-contributor states, economic performance and welfare state regimes. This way, we capture a balance between North-South and East-West European polities that may have different views on international solidarity. The second survey will be fielded among 7,500 respondents in five countries and, by including Japan and the US, extending beyond Europe. These two surveys include novel survey experiments to assess the conditions of international solidarity at the level of the donors, the recipients and the institutional setup channeling support between donors and recipients.

Disciplines

Political Science, Sociology

Starting date

June 2022