Книга: Divergence OF Discontent

One of the most significant decisions of the EU, after the Maastricht Treaty, was the decision to accept new members as they fulfilled economic and political criteria. Enlargement is still a working policy process for the EU, in which accession negotiations with formal candidate countries are still proceeding and further expansion to the Western Balkans are being considered as a possibility. Despite its success, EU enlargement has not been free from skepticism, especially when considering Turkey's candidacy and the latest round of accession negotiations. In this framework, the study attempts to understand the dynamics of the sociopolitical structure of the European opposition to Turkish EU membership. Recent literature indicates four major issues and concerns regarding Turkey's EU membership those related to identity, future enlargement, individual economic expectations, as well as immigration and crime. The first phase of this study considers each issue area as a separate topic while the second measures the level of opposition to Turkey's membership using all issue areas and other explanatory variables in a single model.