Katjana Gattermann

Wouter van der Brug, Claes de Vreese and I publish a special issue in Politics and Governance on the question: “How different were the European Elections of 2014?”. This issue brings together 11 papers that focus on the question of whether and in which ways the 2014 European Parliament elections were different from previous ones. This is important from the point of view of emerging scholarship on changes in the EU and from the point of view of the self-proclaimed ‘This time it’s different!’ slogan from the European Parliament. The papers centre around three themes: 1) the role of the Spitzenkandidaten, 2) media and voters, and 3) electoral behaviour. The complete special issue is an open access publication and can be accessed and/or downloaded free of charge here: http://www.cogitatiopress.com/ojs/index.php/politicsandgovernance/issue/view/38

Table of Contents

Introduction: How Different Were the European Elections of 2014? – Wouter van der Brug , Katjana Gattermann and Claes H. de Vreese

The Choice of Spitzenkandidaten: A Comparative Analysis of the Europarties’ Selection Procedures – Gert-Jan Put , Steven Van Hecke , Corey Cunningham and Wouter Wolfs

The Spitzenkandidaten in the European Parliament Election Campaign Coverage 2014 in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom – Heidi Schulze

Evaluations of the Spitzenkandidaten: The Role of Information and News Exposure in Citizens’ Preference Formation – Katjana Gattermann , Claes De Vreese and Wouter van der Brug

Debating Europe: Effects of the “Eurovision Debate” on EU Attitudes of Young German Voters and the Moderating Role Played by Political Involvement – Jürgen Maier , Berthold Rittberger and Thorsten Faas

Cross Road Elections: Change in EU Performance Evaluations during the European Parliament Elections 2014 – Claes de Vreese , Rachid Azrout and Judith Moeller

The Impact of the Explosion of EU News on Voter Choice in the 2014 EU Elections – Jan Kleinnijenhuis and Wouter van Atteveldt

Has Eurosceptic Mobilization Become More Contagious? Comparing the 2009 and 2014 EP Election Campaigns in The Netherlands and France – Maurits Meijers and Christian Rauh

Looking for the European Voter: Split-Ticket Voting in the Belgian Regional and European Elections of 2009 and 2014 – Camille Kelbel , Virginie Van Ingelgom and Soetkin Verhaegen

Voting at National versus European Elections: An Individual Level Test of the Second Order Paradigm for the 2014 European Parliament Elections – Hajo G. Boomgaarden , David Johann and Sylvia Kritzinger

Context Matters: Economic Voting in the 2009 and 2014 European Parliament Elections – Martin Okolikj and Stephen Quinlan

European Parliament Elections of May 2014: Driven by National Politics or EU Policy Making? – Hermann Schmitt and Ilke Toygür