IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eeupol/v25y2024i1p86-105.html

European integration and political party logos: A ‘visual Europeanization’?

Author

Listed:
  • Matteo CM Casiraghi

    (Department of International Relations and International Organizations, University of Groningen, The Netherlands)

  • Eugenio Cusumano

    (Department of Political and Juridical Sciences, University of Messina, Italy)

  • Angelos Chryssogelos

    (School of Social Sciences and Professions, 4904London Metropolitan University, UK)

Abstract

European integration scholars have paid little attention to the visual dimension of Europeanization. We fill this gap by analysing how European Union integration reshapes political parties’ most visible symbols: their logos. We examine 579 party logos in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe before and after countries became European Union members, obtained the status of candidates or joined the European neighbourhood policy. Our difference-in-differences models show that European Union integration corresponds to a decrease in extremist and nationalist symbols as well as national flag colours. This ‘visual Europeanization’ process, prompted by population ecology and rebranding, cannot be solely explained by democratization or economic growth. Our analysis considers potential mechanisms that explain this correlation, including Europarty membership and normative diffusion, and discusses implications for the Europeanization literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Matteo CM Casiraghi & Eugenio Cusumano & Angelos Chryssogelos, 2024. "European integration and political party logos: A ‘visual Europeanization’?," European Union Politics, , vol. 25(1), pages 86-105, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:25:y:2024:i:1:p:86-105
    DOI: 10.1177/14651165231207088
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14651165231207088
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/14651165231207088?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Irene Botosaru & Federico H. Gutierrez, 2018. "Difference‐in‐differences when the treatment status is observed in only one period," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 73-90, January.
    2. Lisbeth Aggestam & Federica Bicchi, 2019. "New Directions in EU Foreign Policy Governance: Cross‐loading, Leadership and Informal Groupings," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 515-532, May.
    3. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    4. Stephen G. Donald & Kevin Lang, 2007. "Inference with Difference-in-Differences and Other Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(2), pages 221-233, May.
    5. Ding, Peng & Li, Fan, 2019. "A Bracketing Relationship between Difference-in-Differences and Lagged-Dependent-Variable Adjustment," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 605-615, October.
    6. Ian Manners, 2002. "Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 235-258, June.
    7. Adam N. Glynn & Konstantin Kashin, 2017. "Front‐Door Difference‐in‐Differences Estimators," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(4), pages 989-1002, October.
    8. Kennet Lynggaard, 2021. "The Roles of Images in EU Politics," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1213-1229, September.
    9. Gergana Noutcheva, 2016. "Societal Empowerment and Europeanization: Revisiting the EU's Impact on Democratization," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 691-708, May.
    10. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roth, Jonathan & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Bilinski, Alyssa & Poe, John, 2023. "What’s trending in difference-in-differences? A synthesis of the recent econometrics literature," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 2218-2244.
    2. Kaleb Abreha & Raymond Robertson, 2025. "Revisiting the Effects of Regional Trade Agreements Using Staggered Adoption Design," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 53(3), pages 113-124, September.
    3. Lee, Sunyoung, 2025. "Did recreational marijuana legalization increase crime in the long run?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    4. Mark Kattenberg & Bas Scheer & Jurre Thiel, 2023. "Causal forests with fixed effects for treatment effect heterogeneity in difference-in-differences," CPB Discussion Paper 452, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    5. Dmitry Arkhangelsky & Guido Imbens, 2023. "Causal Models for Longitudinal and Panel Data: A Survey," Papers 2311.15458, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    6. de Chaisemartin, Clément & D’Haultfœuille, Xavier, 2023. "Two-way fixed effects and differences-in-differences estimators with several treatments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 236(2).
    7. Bellégo, Christophe & Benatia, David & Dortet-Bernadet, Vincent, 2025. "The chained difference-in-differences," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    8. Costa-Font, Joan & Vilaplana-Prieto, Cristina, 2022. "Mental health effects of caregivers respite: Subsidies or Supports?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    9. Cl'ement de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultf{oe}uille & F'elix Pasquier & Doulo Sow & Gonzalo Vazquez-Bare, 2022. "Difference-in-Differences Estimators for Treatments Continuously Distributed at Every Period," Papers 2201.06898, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2025.
    10. Cipullo, Davide & Reslow, André, 2022. "Electoral cycles in macroeconomic forecasts," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 307-340.
    11. Huang, Xuhui & Zhou, Tao & Zhang, Ning, 2025. "How does the carbon market influence the marginal abatement cost? Evidence from China's coal-fired power plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 378(PA).
    12. Luis Alvarez & Bruno Ferman, 2023. "Extensions for Inference in Difference-in-Differences with Few Treated Clusters," Papers 2302.03131, arXiv.org.
    13. Luis Alvarez & Bruno Ferman, 2020. "Inference in Difference-in-Differences with Few Treated Units and Spatial Correlation," Papers 2006.16997, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2023.
    14. Brantly Callaway & Derek Dyal & Pedro H. C. Sant'Anna & Emmanuel S. Tsyawo, 2025. "Beyond Parallel Trends: An Identification-Strategy-Robust Approach to Causal Inference with Panel Data," Papers 2511.21977, arXiv.org.
    15. Gregory Faletto, 2023. "Fused Extended Two-Way Fixed Effects for Difference-in-Differences With Staggered Adoptions," Papers 2312.05985, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2025.
    16. Jia, Zhijie & Wen, Shiyan, 2024. "Interaction effects of market-based and incentive-driven low-carbon policies on carbon emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    17. Rösner, Anja & Haucap, Justus & Heimeshoff, Ulrich, 2020. "The impact of consumer protection in the digital age: Evidence from the European Union," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    18. Sezen O. Onal, 2023. "Does the ACA Medicaid Expansion Encourage Labor Market Exits of Older Workers?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 56-93, June.
    19. Athey, Susan & Imbens, Guido W., 2022. "Design-based analysis in Difference-In-Differences settings with staggered adoption," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 226(1), pages 62-79.
    20. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:25:y:2024:i:1:p:86-105. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.