Since its inception, the European Union has stimulated many vigorous debates. This Living
Review provides a state of the field perspective on the academic work that has been done to
address the question of the perceptions of the European Union as a system of governance. It
takes a broad scope in assessing the efforts of scholars and highlights significant theoretical
and empirical contributions as well as identifying potential avenues for research. In order
to understand perceptions of the EU, scholars have employed national-level frameworks of
popular support, particularly partisanship and instrumental self-interest. As the number of
members has increased, further research has taken a broader scope to include national identity,
institutions, and attitudes regarding the normative and empirical function of both national
and EU institutions. Additional works address political intermediaries such as parties, media,
and elites. Finally, all of the works are fundamentally concerned with the supportive popular
sentiment that underpins the EU’s legitimacy as a political institution. While there are far more
works that can be practically included in this Living Review, we have attempted to construct an
overview based on the dimensions that define this research as set out by significant contributions
at the core of this literature.
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