Interests, Identities, or Cues?: The Salience of International Trade

• In Event: International Economic Integration in Domestic Contestation

Abstract

International trade has become an increasingly contentious political issue in recent years as demonstrated by the rise of protectionist-oriented party platforms and anti-integration politicians throughout Europe. What impact do these electoral dynamics have on voters’ attention to and support for trade? Drawing from studies on party behavior and political economy, I argue that trade becomes salient to voters as a result of identity-based electoral strategies of nonmainstream political parties. Although unskilled workers, the “losers of globalization” in an advanced economy, may see trade as an important issue due to their material interests, the salience of trade in a country overall will increase in response to appeals to identity. Specifically, I predict that voters will come to see trade as salient and be less supportive of it in response to nationalist cues from far-right parties. These parties act as issue entrepreneurs by using nationalism as a heuristic to activate voters on the complex issue of trade, thus increasing its salience to the public and contributing to the rise of anti-trade politicians. I test this argument using a combination of voter, party, and media data from the European Election Studies 1994-2014. This study contributes to our understanding of how voters come to define their material interests through their identity in a way that undermines the future stability of the international economic system.

Author

• Brianna Howell, University of Pittsburgh