Monika Brusenbauch Meislová
Biographic Data
| ID | 4096789 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Monika Brusenbauch Meislová |
| GIVEN NAMES | Monika Brusenbauch |
| FAMILY NAME | Meislová |
| SIGNATURE | MEISLOVÁ M B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Masaryk University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8581-4000 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 42 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 84 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 42 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Legitimising the unprecedented: An in-depth analysis of the EU institutional discourse on the military aid to Ukraine
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 compelled the European Union (EU) to take the unprecedented step of providing co-ordinated military aid to Ukraine. This article explores the intriguing, yet under-researched question of how this major policy transformation was discursively legitimised in the EU's official communication. Theoretically drawing on Van Leeuwen’s framework of legitimation and methodologically combining qualitative conte…
Investigating discursive shifts in Liberal Democrats’ communication on Brexit and UK–EU relations
Seen but not empowered: Discursive construction of citizen agency in the European Parliament’s crisis communication (2011–2025)
Navigating the Uncertainties of Post‐disruption Dynamics in Discourse: A Case Study of the EU–UK Security Relationship After Brexit
The article presents a model that conceptualizes the discursive construction of post‐disruption dynamics endorsed and reproduced by the affected parties and its potential to (not) contribute to future co‐operation. Conceiving of Brexit as a prime case of a broader phenomenon of post‐disruption contexts, this paper applies this model to the empirical case of the post‐Brexit European Union (EU)–United Kingdom (UK) security co‐operation in order to …
Th anniversary of the EU Eastern enlargement: Stocktaking of the membership experience, challenges, and opportunities
Lessons unlearned: The persistence of fear-based discourse in the 2016–2023 communication of new Europeanist actors in the United Kingdom
Together apart: Representations of the European Union in Anglosphere’s foreign policy discourse 2021–2024
Anatomy of a Stalemate: Making Sense of the EU–UK Youth Mobility Controversy
This policy commentary explores the puzzling stalemate over a proposed Youth Mobility Scheme between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK), offering a deep analysis of its emergence as a site of post‐Brexit contestation. Despite appearing as a low‐stakes, mutually advantageous initiative, youth mobility became mired in mutual misperceptions, political caution and institutional rigidity. Drawing on the conceptual triad of bounded rat…
Crisis All Around? Crisification of the EU Institutional Discourse: A Longitudinal Perspective (2012–2024)
The increasing frequency and complexity of crises have contributed to the crisification of EU policy‐making and governance. Despite its far‐reaching implications, the discursive dimension of this process remains seriously under‐researched. This article addresses that gap by developing a novel conceptual framework for analysing discursive crisification across five dimensions and applying it to a unique longitudinal study of EU institutional discou…
Fear-based self-legitimising agency in the climate governance discourse: Case study of the European Union’s Communication on X/Twitter
Fear-based self-legitimation in the institutional climate change discourse: Case study of the European Parliament’s online communication
The article offers fresh insights on the intricate interplay between self-legitimation and fear in the climate change institutional discourse by providing nuanced exploration of the specific ways in which the European Parliament exploited fear-based appeals in its online digital communication on climate change action during its ninth term, between 2019 and 2024. It draws on discursive institutionalism and fear appeals theory and adopts a multi-me…
Game of deals: Bargaining behaviour of the European parliament in the Brexit process
The article provides an in-depth analysis of the various bargaining strategies that the European Parliament (EP) used to leverage its influence over the negotiations of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. More specifically, it focuses on five bargaining self-empowerment strategies (obstructing, moving first, issue-linking, allying with other actors, and mobilising public opinion), elucidating if, how and to what exte…
Navigating Brexit through fear: An appraisal analysis of 2016–2024 British Prime Ministerial discourse
Addressing a highly intriguing question of the persistence of fear-based appeals in the Brexit context, the article provides the first comprehensive longitudinal analysis of such discourse in the British Prime Ministerial communication on Brexit across the post-referendum period (2016–2024). It draws on and adapts Lazarus’ appraisal theory of emotion and combines content analysis with the Discourse Historical Approach in Critical Discourse Analys…
Getting Brexit done? The politics of issue-eclipsing pledges
Discourse of self-legitimation: Self- and other-presentation in the European Parliament’s soft law on Brexit
The article proposes an original conceptual framework that captures the discursive logic of self-legitimation and applies it to the empirical case of European Union soft law and the process of Brexit. Adopting the general orientation of Discourse Historical Approach in Critical Discourse Analysis and working with a dataset of all European Parliament (EP) resolutions on Brexit in the 2016–2023 period, the article investigates how, and interprets t…
Emotions of fear and anger as a discursive tool of radical right leaders in Central Eastern Europe
The paper examines how the radical right parties ́ leaders work with emotions while addressing their voters and sympathizers on Twitter/X social media. We focus on the “supply side” on the level of leaders ́ discourses. The goal is to demonstrate how they work with emotions, especially those of fear and anger. The context represents Russian aggression against Ukraine, because, typically, circumstances of a crisis bolster the ability of radical ri…
Othering through blame: The EU as the blame target in the UK government’s post-Brexit rhetoric
A tale of two memberships: Analysing post-2004 official governmental discourse on the EU in Czechia and Slovakia
Despite their similar contexts, the Czech and Slovak memberships in the EU have developed in fundamentally different ways. Whilst Czechia has cast itself as a somewhat half-hearted, reluctant EU member state, Slovakia's approach to the union has been more positive, with enthusiasm for deepening integration with the EU. Our analysis reveals that, despite some similarities, these differences also pertain to the patterns of discursive legitimisation…
Scaring for the greater good? Discursive construction of fear appeals in the brexit referendum campaign
The ambiguous impact of populist trade discourses on the international economic order
The relationship between populism and free trade has historically been a complex one. This article argues that populism affects trade not by expressing consistent economic preferences, but by operating as a discourse that articulates external policies as a struggle for popular recognition. We analyse trade discourses of Donald Trump and Brexiteers following their victories in the 2016 United States presidential election and the referendum on Euro…
Coping, struggling, or just getting by? Brexit and its implications for Czech and Slovak security and defence policies
The overarching goal of this article is to investigate the extent to which and the ways in which the Brexit process impacted the policies of Czechia and Slovakia in the security and defence (S&D) domain between 2016 and 2020 and how the two countries positioned themselves in this area during the withdrawal negotiations. More specifically, the study explores 1) the strategies pursued by Czech and Slovak national authorities to cope with Brexit (hi…
Prime ministerial political leadership and the domestic politics of Brexit: Theresa May and Boris Johnson compared
This article explores and compares the political leadership of two successive British Prime Ministers, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, in their handling of the domestic politics of Brexit. Despite some similar dilemmas at the beginning of their premierships, their leadership delivered very different outcomes. The key argument developed here, using Richard Heffernan’s power resources model, is that the explanation for these outcomes does not only a…
From multilateralism to bilateralism: Making sense of the UK’s security cooperation with EU member states after 2016
The article analyses the renewed importance of bilateralism for the UK’s engagement with individual EU member states in relation to security and defence policy. By systematically scrutinising the bilateral agreements with 18 EU countries concluded between the EU membership referendum in 2016 and the end of Boris Johnson’s premiership in 2022, we argue that the United Kingdom currently finds itself in the process of transitioning from one policy r…
In Quest for Discursive Legitimation of Ongoing Policy Processes: Constructing Brexit as a Success Story
The article brings together insights from the literatures on policy process, policy legitimation and legitimacy discourse to shed new light on the temporal structure of discursive legitimation of policy processes. It argues that in order to satisfy complex demands on their legitimacy, ongoing policy processes are legitimated not only by referring to the current state of affairs (status quo legitimation), but also by legitimating the future (statu…
Constructing the Discourse on the Eurozone Crisis in the Czech Republic: Presidents Václav Klaus and Miloš Zeman Compared
The article investigates the discourse of two Czech presidents, Václav Klaus (2003–2013) and Miloš Zeman (2013–incumbent), visàvis the salient issue of the Eurozone crisis. Having adopted the general orientation of the discourse historical approach to discourse analysis, and working with a corpus of data on Klaus’ and Zeman’s public utterances on the Eurozone crisis in the 2010–2018 period, the central research question that the article address…
Brexit Means Brexit—or Does It? The Legacy of Theresa May's Discursive Treatment of Brexit
With the looming reality of Brexit drawing closer, it is the intention of this article to explore Theresa May's post‐referendum communicative behaviour on Brexit—the very issue that came to define her premiership agenda—and uncover what legacy it has left behind. Building upon, extending and updating the emerging literature on May's discourse, the inquiry helps us understand how May acted through language in order to influence and change other pe…
Great Expectations or Misplaced Hopes? The Role of the Visegrád Group in the Brexit Process
The article explores the role played by the Visegrád Group—a multilateral platform of four Central and Eastern European states (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia)—in the Brexit process. It surveys the group's performance during two distinct phases of the Brexit process: first, David Cameron's EU renegotiations and, second, the first phase of the Article 50 (withdrawal) negotiations, ending in December 2017. The author concludes tha…
Discursive (re)construction of populist sovereignism by right-wing hard Eurosceptic parties in the 2019 European parliament elections: Insights from the UK, Italy, the Czech Republic and Slovakia
The overarching aim of the article is to investigate the discourse of populist sovereignism as articulated by the leaders and/or leading candidates of four right-wing hard Eurosceptic populist parties in the following countries during the 2019 elections to the European Parliament: the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. The political parties investigated are Freedom and Direct Democracy, League, People’s Party Our Slovakia and…
Full of surprises, or surprisingly not? The peculiar case of Czech Brexit policy
The article provides a qualitative in-depth analysis of Czech Brexit policy (that is, a Czech policy on Brexit). There are many reasons why one might expect Brexit to be a high-profile, politicized issue in Czech politics. Yet, as the article shows, this has not been the case. Rather, the issue of Brexit in Czech politics has been characterized by a low level of politicization, with the Czech position on Brexit having largely complied with the EU…
In Quest for Discursive Legitimation of Ongoing Policy Processes: Constructing Brexit as a Success Story
The article brings together insights from the literatures on policy process, policy legitimation and legitimacy discourse to shed new light on the temporal structure of discursive legitimation of policy processes. It argues that in order to satisfy complex demands on their legitimacy, ongoing policy processes are legitimated not only by referring to the current state of affairs (status quo legitimation), but also by legitimating the future (statu…
Game of deals: Bargaining behaviour of the European parliament in the Brexit process
The article provides an in-depth analysis of the various bargaining strategies that the European Parliament (EP) used to leverage its influence over the negotiations of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. More specifically, it focuses on five bargaining self-empowerment strategies (obstructing, moving first, issue-linking, allying with other actors, and mobilising public opinion), elucidating if, how and to what exte…
Getting Brexit done? The politics of issue-eclipsing pledges
The Limits of EUropean Legitimacy: On Populism and Technocracy. Introduction to the Special Issue
This article introduces the special issue on populism and technocracy in the integration and governance of the European Union (EU), framing these opposing approaches in the context of polarised debate on the (il)legitimacy of the EU. The special issue was conceived as an interdisciplinary approach to questions of the EU’s legitimacy in the aftermath of structural crises (the eurozone, sovereign debt and the election and appointment of governing a…
Centenary celebrations meet a farewell party: British-Czech bilateral relations in the times of Brexit
2019 marks an especially important year for British-Czech bilateral relations. As a year of both centenary celebrations of opening of the British Embassy in Prague and Brexit, it makes for a fascinating paradox: a symbol of a century-long continuity on one hand and a year of serious disruption on the other hand. Against this background, the overarching aim of this article is to investigate Brexit implications for British-Czech bilateral relations…
From multilateralism to bilateralism: Making sense of the UK’s security cooperation with EU member states after 2016
The article analyses the renewed importance of bilateralism for the UK’s engagement with individual EU member states in relation to security and defence policy. By systematically scrutinising the bilateral agreements with 18 EU countries concluded between the EU membership referendum in 2016 and the end of Boris Johnson’s premiership in 2022, we argue that the United Kingdom currently finds itself in the process of transitioning from one policy r…
It’s the EU’s fault!’ Strategies of blame avoidance in Andrej Babiš’s discourse on the conflict-of-interest case
The article investigates strategies of blame avoidance in the discourse of the Czech Prime Minister (PM), Andrej Babiš, on the conflict-of-interest case over the misuse of European Union (EU) funds. Taking a critical discursive perspective and working with a dataset of Babiš's public pronouncements on his conflict of interest during the period of 2019–2021, the study uncovers the particular ways of arguing, framing, denying, characterising social…
The EU as a Choice: Populist and Technocratic Narratives of the EU in the Brexit Referendum Campaign
The article investigates the main populist and technocratic narratives employed in the campaign in the run-up to the 2016 British EU referendum. Based on a qualitative dataset comprising 40 selected speeches, interviews and other public interventions by prominent Leave and Remain protagonists and adopting the general orientation of the Discourse Historical Approach in Critical Discourse Analysis, the paper discusses how the language of the Remain…
Navigating the Uncertainties of Post‐disruption Dynamics in Discourse: A Case Study of the EU–UK Security Relationship After Brexit
The article presents a model that conceptualizes the discursive construction of post‐disruption dynamics endorsed and reproduced by the affected parties and its potential to (not) contribute to future co‐operation. Conceiving of Brexit as a prime case of a broader phenomenon of post‐disruption contexts, this paper applies this model to the empirical case of the post‐Brexit European Union (EU)–United Kingdom (UK) security co‐operation in order to …
Scaring for the greater good? Discursive construction of fear appeals in the brexit referendum campaign
Implementation of democratic innovations in Prague (Czech Republic): An empirical exploration
In the spotlight, or behind the scenes? The European Parliament as an actor in Article 50 withdrawal negotiations
The article researches the performance of the European Parliament (EP) in the Article 50 withdrawal negotiations. Drawing upon insights from the actorness concept, the inquiry assesses the EP’s performance on the basis of Kaunert’s, Léonard’s and MacKenzie’s conceptualisation of actorness, i.e. in terms of the six variables of capacity, legitimacy, initiative, autonomy, cohesion and recognition. The paper finds that, within the Article 50 negotia…
Together apart: Representations of the European Union in Anglosphere’s foreign policy discourse 2021–2024
Anatomy of a Stalemate: Making Sense of the EU–UK Youth Mobility Controversy
This policy commentary explores the puzzling stalemate over a proposed Youth Mobility Scheme between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK), offering a deep analysis of its emergence as a site of post‐Brexit contestation. Despite appearing as a low‐stakes, mutually advantageous initiative, youth mobility became mired in mutual misperceptions, political caution and institutional rigidity. Drawing on the conceptual triad of bounded rat…
Fear-based self-legitimation in the institutional climate change discourse: Case study of the European Parliament’s online communication
The article offers fresh insights on the intricate interplay between self-legitimation and fear in the climate change institutional discourse by providing nuanced exploration of the specific ways in which the European Parliament exploited fear-based appeals in its online digital communication on climate change action during its ninth term, between 2019 and 2024. It draws on discursive institutionalism and fear appeals theory and adopts a multi-me…
Navigating Brexit through fear: An appraisal analysis of 2016–2024 British Prime Ministerial discourse
Addressing a highly intriguing question of the persistence of fear-based appeals in the Brexit context, the article provides the first comprehensive longitudinal analysis of such discourse in the British Prime Ministerial communication on Brexit across the post-referendum period (2016–2024). It draws on and adapts Lazarus’ appraisal theory of emotion and combines content analysis with the Discourse Historical Approach in Critical Discourse Analys…
A tale of two memberships: Analysing post-2004 official governmental discourse on the EU in Czechia and Slovakia
Despite their similar contexts, the Czech and Slovak memberships in the EU have developed in fundamentally different ways. Whilst Czechia has cast itself as a somewhat half-hearted, reluctant EU member state, Slovakia's approach to the union has been more positive, with enthusiasm for deepening integration with the EU. Our analysis reveals that, despite some similarities, these differences also pertain to the patterns of discursive legitimisation…
The ambiguous impact of populist trade discourses on the international economic order
The relationship between populism and free trade has historically been a complex one. This article argues that populism affects trade not by expressing consistent economic preferences, but by operating as a discourse that articulates external policies as a struggle for popular recognition. We analyse trade discourses of Donald Trump and Brexiteers following their victories in the 2016 United States presidential election and the referendum on Euro…
Constructing the Discourse on the Eurozone Crisis in the Czech Republic: Presidents Václav Klaus and Miloš Zeman Compared
The article investigates the discourse of two Czech presidents, Václav Klaus (2003–2013) and Miloš Zeman (2013–incumbent), visàvis the salient issue of the Eurozone crisis. Having adopted the general orientation of the discourse historical approach to discourse analysis, and working with a corpus of data on Klaus’ and Zeman’s public utterances on the Eurozone crisis in the 2010–2018 period, the central research question that the article address…
Not now! Construction of the “now-is-not-the-time” discourse of Theresa May and Boris Johnson vis-à-vis the second Scottish independence referendum
Brexit as a (de)politicized issue? Evidence from Czech and Slovak parliaments
The article engages in the debate about the extent of the domestic politicization of Brexit in the EU27, and the causes and agents thereof. More specifically, it examines which parliamentary actors in Czechia and Slovakia have tried to de/politicize Brexit, and which strategies they have applied while doing so. By inquiring into the concrete de/politicization moves by different agents within parliamentary arenas, we attempt to open up the black b…
All things to all people? Discursive patterns on UK–EU relationship in David Cameron’s speeches
Centenary celebrations meet a farewell party: British-Czech bilateral relations in the times of Brexit
2019 marks an especially important year for British-Czech bilateral relations. As a year of both centenary celebrations of opening of the British Embassy in Prague and Brexit, it makes for a fascinating paradox: a symbol of a century-long continuity on one hand and a year of serious disruption on the other hand. Against this background, the overarching aim of this article is to investigate Brexit implications for British-Czech bilateral relations…
Great Expectations or Misplaced Hopes? The Role of the Visegrád Group in the Brexit Process
The article explores the role played by the Visegrád Group—a multilateral platform of four Central and Eastern European states (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia)—in the Brexit process. It surveys the group's performance during two distinct phases of the Brexit process: first, David Cameron's EU renegotiations and, second, the first phase of the Article 50 (withdrawal) negotiations, ending in December 2017. The author concludes tha…
Brexit Means Brexit—or Does It? The Legacy of Theresa May's Discursive Treatment of Brexit
With the looming reality of Brexit drawing closer, it is the intention of this article to explore Theresa May's post‐referendum communicative behaviour on Brexit—the very issue that came to define her premiership agenda—and uncover what legacy it has left behind. Building upon, extending and updating the emerging literature on May's discourse, the inquiry helps us understand how May acted through language in order to influence and change other pe…
Not Quite What You Expected: The Curious Case of Brexit Scrutiny in the Czech Parliament
The aim of the article is to explore how the Czech bicameral parliament has reacted to the process of the United Kingdom's (UK's) withdrawal from the European Union (EU). Drawing upon insights from the theoretical expectations of parliamentary power, the inquiry researches the ways that Czech legislatures have developed in terms of engaging with and influencing the Brexit process. In this regard, the Czech case is exceptionally interesting and wo…
Full of surprises, or surprisingly not? The peculiar case of Czech Brexit policy
The article provides a qualitative in-depth analysis of Czech Brexit policy (that is, a Czech policy on Brexit). There are many reasons why one might expect Brexit to be a high-profile, politicized issue in Czech politics. Yet, as the article shows, this has not been the case. Rather, the issue of Brexit in Czech politics has been characterized by a low level of politicization, with the Czech position on Brexit having largely complied with the EU…
Brexit as a (de)politicized issue? Evidence from Czech and Slovak parliaments
The article engages in the debate about the extent of the domestic politicization of Brexit in the EU27, and the causes and agents thereof. More specifically, it examines which parliamentary actors in Czechia and Slovakia have tried to de/politicize Brexit, and which strategies they have applied while doing so. By inquiring into the concrete de/politicization moves by different agents within parliamentary arenas, we attempt to open up the black b…
In the spotlight, or behind the scenes? The European Parliament as an actor in Article 50 withdrawal negotiations
The article researches the performance of the European Parliament (EP) in the Article 50 withdrawal negotiations. Drawing upon insights from the actorness concept, the inquiry assesses the EP’s performance on the basis of Kaunert’s, Léonard’s and MacKenzie’s conceptualisation of actorness, i.e. in terms of the six variables of capacity, legitimacy, initiative, autonomy, cohesion and recognition. The paper finds that, within the Article 50 negotia…
The Limits of EUropean Legitimacy: On Populism and Technocracy. Introduction to the Special Issue
This article introduces the special issue on populism and technocracy in the integration and governance of the European Union (EU), framing these opposing approaches in the context of polarised debate on the (il)legitimacy of the EU. The special issue was conceived as an interdisciplinary approach to questions of the EU’s legitimacy in the aftermath of structural crises (the eurozone, sovereign debt and the election and appointment of governing a…
The EU as a Choice: Populist and Technocratic Narratives of the EU in the Brexit Referendum Campaign
The article investigates the main populist and technocratic narratives employed in the campaign in the run-up to the 2016 British EU referendum. Based on a qualitative dataset comprising 40 selected speeches, interviews and other public interventions by prominent Leave and Remain protagonists and adopting the general orientation of the Discourse Historical Approach in Critical Discourse Analysis, the paper discusses how the language of the Remain…
Same Challenge, Different Answers? Mapping out Brexit Challenges for Czech and Slovak EU Policy-Making
Cet article analyse les défis que suscite le Brexit pour les politiques européennes de la République tchèque et de la Slovaquie. En se basant sur la littérature relative aux défis (attendus) du Brexit pour les politiques européennes des États de petite et moyenne taille, l'article se concentre principalement sur les défis posés par le Brexit dans deux dimensions des politiques européennes : 1) les secteurs de politique publique et 2) les capacité…
Same Challenge, Different Answers? Mapping out Brexit Challenges for Czech and Slovak EU Policy-Making
Exploitation Opportunities for Distant Crises: Political Framings of Brexit in the Czech Republic and Hungary
Brexit has been a major crisis facing the European integration process. The paper examines how Brexit was framed and exploited by two EU member state governments, Czechia and Hungary. We conceptualize Brexit as a “distant crisis” for these two countries: although it is likely to have significant impacts, these are uncertain and not immediate. Building on the crisis-framing literature, we apply frame analysis to examine governmental rhetoric and f…
Discursive (re)construction of populist sovereignism by right-wing hard Eurosceptic parties in the 2019 European parliament elections: Insights from the UK, Italy, the Czech Republic and Slovakia
The overarching aim of the article is to investigate the discourse of populist sovereignism as articulated by the leaders and/or leading candidates of four right-wing hard Eurosceptic populist parties in the following countries during the 2019 elections to the European Parliament: the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. The political parties investigated are Freedom and Direct Democracy, League, People’s Party Our Slovakia and…
Constructing the Discourse on the Eurozone Crisis in the Czech Republic: Presidents Václav Klaus and Miloš Zeman Compared
The article investigates the discourse of two Czech presidents, Václav Klaus (2003–2013) and Miloš Zeman (2013–incumbent), visàvis the salient issue of the Eurozone crisis. Having adopted the general orientation of the discourse historical approach to discourse analysis, and working with a corpus of data on Klaus’ and Zeman’s public utterances on the Eurozone crisis in the 2010–2018 period, the central research question that the article address…
Not now! Construction of the “now-is-not-the-time” discourse of Theresa May and Boris Johnson vis-à-vis the second Scottish independence referendum
Implementation of democratic innovations in Prague (Czech Republic): An empirical exploration
It’s the EU’s fault!’ Strategies of blame avoidance in Andrej Babiš’s discourse on the conflict-of-interest case
The article investigates strategies of blame avoidance in the discourse of the Czech Prime Minister (PM), Andrej Babiš, on the conflict-of-interest case over the misuse of European Union (EU) funds. Taking a critical discursive perspective and working with a dataset of Babiš's public pronouncements on his conflict of interest during the period of 2019–2021, the study uncovers the particular ways of arguing, framing, denying, characterising social…
Coping, struggling, or just getting by? Brexit and its implications for Czech and Slovak security and defence policies
The overarching goal of this article is to investigate the extent to which and the ways in which the Brexit process impacted the policies of Czechia and Slovakia in the security and defence (S&D) domain between 2016 and 2020 and how the two countries positioned themselves in this area during the withdrawal negotiations. More specifically, the study explores 1) the strategies pursued by Czech and Slovak national authorities to cope with Brexit (hi…
Prime ministerial political leadership and the domestic politics of Brexit: Theresa May and Boris Johnson compared
This article explores and compares the political leadership of two successive British Prime Ministers, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, in their handling of the domestic politics of Brexit. Despite some similar dilemmas at the beginning of their premierships, their leadership delivered very different outcomes. The key argument developed here, using Richard Heffernan’s power resources model, is that the explanation for these outcomes does not only a…
From multilateralism to bilateralism: Making sense of the UK’s security cooperation with EU member states after 2016
The article analyses the renewed importance of bilateralism for the UK’s engagement with individual EU member states in relation to security and defence policy. By systematically scrutinising the bilateral agreements with 18 EU countries concluded between the EU membership referendum in 2016 and the end of Boris Johnson’s premiership in 2022, we argue that the United Kingdom currently finds itself in the process of transitioning from one policy r…
In Quest for Discursive Legitimation of Ongoing Policy Processes: Constructing Brexit as a Success Story
The article brings together insights from the literatures on policy process, policy legitimation and legitimacy discourse to shed new light on the temporal structure of discursive legitimation of policy processes. It argues that in order to satisfy complex demands on their legitimacy, ongoing policy processes are legitimated not only by referring to the current state of affairs (status quo legitimation), but also by legitimating the future (statu…
Emotions of fear and anger as a discursive tool of radical right leaders in Central Eastern Europe
The paper examines how the radical right parties ́ leaders work with emotions while addressing their voters and sympathizers on Twitter/X social media. We focus on the “supply side” on the level of leaders ́ discourses. The goal is to demonstrate how they work with emotions, especially those of fear and anger. The context represents Russian aggression against Ukraine, because, typically, circumstances of a crisis bolster the ability of radical ri…
Othering through blame: The EU as the blame target in the UK government’s post-Brexit rhetoric
A tale of two memberships: Analysing post-2004 official governmental discourse on the EU in Czechia and Slovakia
Despite their similar contexts, the Czech and Slovak memberships in the EU have developed in fundamentally different ways. Whilst Czechia has cast itself as a somewhat half-hearted, reluctant EU member state, Slovakia's approach to the union has been more positive, with enthusiasm for deepening integration with the EU. Our analysis reveals that, despite some similarities, these differences also pertain to the patterns of discursive legitimisation…
Political science (33 works) · European union (29 works) · Sociology (26 works) · European Union Policy and Governance (25 works) · Law (25 works) · Politics (25 works) · Law (24 works) · Political economy (23 works) · Economics (22 works) · Brexit (21 works)