European Identity And Citizen Attitudes To Cohesion Policy: What Do We Know?

This paper provides a state-of-the art review of the literature on European identity and on citizens’ attitudes to Cohesion policy. It is the first research paper in the COHESIFY project, which aims to assess the impact of Cohesion policy on citizens’ support for and identification with the European Union. The paper beings by examining the European identity literature distinguishing conceptual perspectives, methodological approaches, controversies and explanations. It then reviews the literature on the impact of EU Cohesion policy on citizens’ attitudes to the EU and related studies of Cohesion policy communication. Building on these different strands of literature, the final section sets out the analytical framework for the COHESIFY project including the conceptual approach, research design, case selection rationale and methodology.