Cleavages, competition and coalition‐building: Agrarian parties and the European question in Western and East Central Europe

The central argument in this article is that Europeanisation of party politics – the translation of issues related to European integration into domestic party politics – is driven by the dynamics of long‐ and short‐term party strategy. Variations in the patterns of Euroscepticism found in agrarian parties across Europe is therefore explained in terms of three central variables: the agrarian parties’ long‐term policy goals linked to identity and interest; their position in the party systems and the mainstream left‐ and right‐wing parties’ stance on European integration; and their long‐ and short‐term electoral strategies and office‐related incentives.