THE PERSISTENT STRUCTURE OF HEGEMONY IN THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

The Eurovision Song Contest is an international contest of artistic pr owess. The organization of the voting process in the contest aims to c reate a 'veil of ignorance' that promotes unbiased evaluations by prov iding an equal opportunity for all contestants. This study scrutinizes the departure of the Eurovision Song Contest's outcomes from its idea l organizational conception and points to systematic preferences among European blocs. By analyzing the patterns of relations between four e mpirically derived European blocs, this study shows that hegemony resu lts from the unique structural position that the Western bloc occupies . This bloc enjoys a persistent position of a tertius gaudens that res ults from the fact that (a) nations in this bloc favor each other and export few points to other blocs; (b) the Northern and Mediterranean b locs avoid each other, and therefore allocate their surplus votes to t he Western bloc. The Western bloc longitudinally sustains its hegemoni c position through the persistence of between- and within-bloc exchang e relations. The assumed veil of ignorance legitimizes this structural advantage. We propose that the fairness of the 'veil or ignorance' bo th secures hegemony and - when analyzed appropriately - helps to uncov er it. (C) Scandinavian Sociological Association 1996