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AbstractSocial relevance has become a key element to assess the social legitimacy of an academic discipline. This contrasts with a widespread sentiment among political scientists about the existence of a relevance gap. The context of multiple crises Europe has experienced since the late 2000s has provided political scientists with a multitude of opportunities to demonstrate the social relevance of their work and the usefulness of the discipline. This introductory article to the special issue aims to offer an explorative framework and a preliminary discussion of empirical examples to assess the phenomenon of political scientists' relevance in the public sphere during recent turbulent times. The framework (which emphasises three basic dimensions of social relevance – partisanship, visibility, and impact) is used to interpret the main results of the five case studies included in the special issue. Results show that contextual factors (salience of the issue, political and media contexts) influence political scientists' engagement in the public sphere, the role they adopt and their visibility. The article ends emphasising the importance of collective action within the discipline as an instrument to enhance its social relevance.

Social relevance has become a key element to assess the social legitimacy of an academic discipline. This contrasts with a widespread sentiment among political scientists about the existence of a relevance gap. The context of multiple crises Europe has experienced since the late 2000s has provided political scientists with a multitude of opportunities to demonstrate the social relevance of their work and the usefulness of the discipline. This introductory article to the special issue aims to offer an explorative framework and a preliminary discussion of empirical examples to assess the phenomenon of political scientists' relevance in the public sphere during recent turbulent times. The framework (which emphasises three basic dimensions of social relevance – partisanship, visibility, and impact) is used to interpret the main results of the five case studies included in the special issue. Results show that contextual factors (salience of the issue, political and media contexts) influence political scientists' engagement in the public sphere, the role they adopt and their visibility. The article ends emphasising the importance of collective action within the discipline as an instrument to enhance its social relevance.

Introduction : the Eurocrisis and national political elites / Nicolò Conti, Borbála Göncz and José Real-Dato -- A challenged project : the Europe of elites in crisis / Heinrich Best and Lars Vogel -- The influence of the crisis on the perceptions of EU institutions by national political elites / José Real-Dato, Maurizio Cotta, and Juan Rodríguez-Teruel -- Levels of policy decisions : do elite preferences differ before and after the crisis? / György Lengyel, Bálint Lengyel and Nicolò Conti -- European integration in the view of political elites and citizens : an increasing gap? / Lars Vogel and Borbála Göncz -- Individuals vs. parties : comparing MPs' positions to the positions of their own parties / Marko Kukec, Bojana Kocijan and Luca Verzichelli -- Resilience of pro-European consensus among political elites in crisis : old and new EU member states compared / Matej Makarovic, Matevz Tomsic -- The future of the EU : between integration and disintegration / Francesco Marangoni and Federico Russo -- Conclusion / Nicolò Conti, Borbála Göncz and José Real-Dato.

This article focuses on the activism of members of youth party organisations (YPO). The purpose is to explore the explanatory power of three different models of party activism: civic voluntarism model, general incentives model and socio-psychological model. The original dataset used is members of youth sections in Spain (n=2144) including demographic items, social background and some measures of attitudes, motivations and party activism. The findings reveal: (i) some similarity among members of youth sections in relation to activism levels and in a great number of the independent variables used; (ii) a positive impact on party membership and party activism of associationism and expressive attachment to the youth section; (iii) passive and active modalities of activism are related to the possession of money (having a job); and (iv) a good fit of the socio-psychological model with regard to civic voluntarism and general incentive models in active modalities of activism. ; Este trabajo se centra en el activismo de los miembros de las organizaciones juveniles de los partidos políticos. El propósito es examinar tres diferentes modelos de activismo partidista: voluntarismo cívico, incentivos generales y socio-psicológco. Se utiliza una encuesta original realizada a los miembros de las organizaciones juveniles de los partidos políticos españoles (n=2144) con información sociodemográfica, antecedentes sociales y medidas sobre actitudes, motivaciones y activismo partidista. Los hallazgos revelan: (i) cierta similitud entre los miembros de las organizaciones juveniles en relación a los niveles de activismo y en el mayor número de variables independientes contempladas; (ii) un impacto positivo en la afiliación y activismo del asociacionsimo y de la identificación con la organización política juvenil; (iii) las modalidades de activismo, pasivo y activo, están relacionadas con la posesión de recursos como dinero (vía empleo), y (iv) un buen desempeño del modelo socio-psicologico en comparación con el modelo de voluntarismo cívico y el de incentivos generales en la explicación en las modalidades de activismo activo.

The economic crisis within the European Union has had a significant impact on domestic politics in the member states, affecting the links between parties and citizens and accentuating the tensions parties face between governing responsibility and being responsive to public opinion. This article examines whether parties in EU countries have shifted their left–right ideological positions during the current crisis and whether such shifts are a direct response to the pressures of wider economic conditions or are more affected by changes in the preferences of the median voter. Party-based and citizen-based data are examined between 2002 and 2015, encompassing both the precrisis and crisis periods. The main findings are that the economic crisis has made parties less responsive to public opinion on the left–right dimension, and this effect is more pronounced for parties that have been in government.

The economic crisis within the European Union has had a significant impact on domestic politics in the member states, affecting the links between parties and citizens and accentuating the tensions parties face between governing responsibility and being responsive to public opinion. This article examines whether parties in EU countries have shifted their left–right ideological positions during the current crisis and whether such shifts are a direct response to the pressures of wider economic conditions or are more affected by changes in the preferences of the median voter. Party-based and citizen-based data are examined between 2002 and 2015, encompassing both the precrisis and crisis periods. The main findings are that the economic crisis has made parties less responsive to public opinion on the left–right dimension, and this effect is more pronounced for parties that have been in government.