Interests in a Region and Opinions on Europe: The 1992 Referendum on the Maastricht Treaty in Aquitaine

The article deals with the expression of social interests during the referendum campaign on the Treaty of Maastricht (1992). The analysis is based on a comprehensive content analysis of national and regional newspapers read in Aquitaine and it reconstructs the main structure of political arguments developed by actors who made their stand in the region. It introduces a survey of a posteriori uncertain interpretations and a tentative account of the durable political effects of the referendum. In a wider context, the analysis reconsiders the conditions of representative democracy during the remaking of polities, which makes problematic the expression of particular interests.