Discourses of Globalisation and European Integration in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 2004-2005

<P>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</P><br>The principal objective of the research was to survey and map elite political attitudes to globalisation, European integration and the relationship between the two. Explicitly designed as a pilot study for a broader multi-country and multi-language European comparative analysis, the focus of the project was restricted to the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland, two countries that are particularly well suited to a comparative analysis of this kind due to their common language, their common institutional origins and the structural similarities in their political economies.<br>
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The research was informed by the following key questions: <ul><li>how policy-makers perceive globalisation and European integration (including the relationship between them)</li><li>whether distinctive discourses of globalisation, European integration and the relationship between the two can be identified, how pervasive the concepts are, and to what extent they are conserved between cases and, within cases, between political parties, civil servants and politicians, and front- and back-benchers</li><li>whether such discourses are national in character or are party-political factors the principal determinants of attitudes towards globalisation and European integration</li><li>whether there are disparities between policy-makers' attitudes towards globalisation and European integration, as revealed in survey-based research and the official/public appeal to such discourses</li></ul>The research was conducted via a postal questionnaire, which was sent to all Members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK, all Members of the Dail (parliament) in Ireland, and 1,000 UK and Irish civil servants. This consisted of closed questions with identical scalar answer formats that reflected a range of perspectives regarding globalisation and European integration. The postal survey was backed by detailed discourse analysis of policy documents and a small number of semi-structured interviews with senior policy-makers from both countries (only the postal survey responses are included in the dataset).<br>
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<br><br><B>Main Topics</B>:<BR><br>Topics covered in the questionnaire include: attitudes towards globalisation and its political, social, cultural and economic dynamics, the advantages and disadvantages of European integration, and European Monetary Union (EMU). Demographic details were also gathered.<br>
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It should be noted that the responses of UK civil servants to questions 8, 9, 10 and 27 on the questionnaire have not been included in the dataset.<br>
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本摘要版权归英国数据服务中心（UK Data Service）及本数据集的版权所有者所有。

本研究的核心目标是调研并梳理精英政治群体对全球化、欧洲一体化及二者间关系的态度。本研究明确为一项面向更广泛多国家、多语言欧洲比较分析的先导试点研究，项目聚焦英国（UK）与爱尔兰两国——二者拥有共同语言、同源制度起源以及相似的政治经济结构，非常适合开展此类比较分析。

本研究围绕以下核心问题展开：
- 政策制定者如何看待全球化与欧洲一体化（含二者间的关联）；
- 能否识别出针对全球化、欧洲一体化及二者关系的独特话语体系？这些概念的普及程度如何？在不同研究案例间，以及案例内部的不同群体（包括各政党、公务员与政客，以及前座议员与后座议员）间，这些话语的延续性程度如何；
- 此类话语是具有国家属性，还是政党政治因素才是影响全球化与欧洲一体化态度的核心决定因素；
- 基于调研得到的政策制定者对全球化与欧洲一体化的态度，与官方/公众对这类话语的诉求之间，是否存在差异。

本研究通过邮寄问卷的方式开展，问卷分别发放给英国所有下议院议员（MPs）、爱尔兰众议院（Dail）全体议员，以及1000名英国与爱尔兰公务员。问卷包含一系列封闭式问题，采用统一的量表作答格式，涵盖了关于全球化与欧洲一体化的多元视角。本次邮寄调研辅以对政策文件的细致话语分析，以及对两国数位资深政策制定者的半结构化访谈（本数据集仅包含邮寄问卷的调研结果）。

【核心主题】：
问卷涵盖的内容包括：对全球化及其政治、社会、文化与经济动态的态度，欧洲一体化的利弊，以及欧洲货币联盟（European Monetary Union，EMU）。此外还收集了受访者的人口统计学信息。

需要说明的是，英国公务员针对问卷第8、9、10及27题的作答结果未被纳入本数据集。