International integration and national beliefs: A psychological basis for consociationalism as a model of political unification

Abstract

The model of consociational democracy has at its core the assumption that different culturally distinct communities are most prone to achieve political and economic integration if the dominant lines of social and cultural division between them remain unchallenged. This article seeks to corroborate consociationalism's ‘good social fences make good political neighbours’ postulate from a psychological angle. It relies on the belief systems model by Milton Rokeach. It first outlines the consociational and the belief systems model respectively. Then it anchors consociationalism's call for the preservation of social and cultural divisions during political and economic unification in Rokeach's proposition that individuals are more liable to adapt to a change in their environment if this change violates beliefs that are few in number and located at the periphery rather than at the core of their belief systems. It concludes by examining a range of Eurobarometer survey data on popular attitudes towards the European Union. These findings support the article's hypothesis.