ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we do not test the causal mechanism of our theory but concentrate on whether there is an empirical link between context-level factors and Muslim EU attitudes – making our main argument about utilitarian factors influencing Muslim attitudes toward international actor more convincing. To do so, we use data from the PEW Global Attitudes Project. The PEW sample is composed of respondents from a diverse range of Muslims; in all, we have about 13,000 Muslims from 28 countries in our sample to conduct our analysis. We find that indeed the economic relationship between a citizen’s country and the EU and its member states – measured in terms of trade relations and official development assistance – significantly and substantially influences citizens’ attitudes toward the EU. While this result may bode well for the EU, descriptive statistics also show that most of the countries included in the analysis have a negative trade relation with the EU. This indicates that the actual trade relationships between the EU and third countries actually negatively influence citizens’ EU attitudes in the latter.
