Discourse of self-legitimation
Self- and other-presentation in the European Parliament’s soft law on Brexit
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6085201 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Monika Brusenbauch Meislová (0000-0001-8581-4000) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 545-569 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Language and Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1569-2159 • E-ISSN: 1569-9862 |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1075/jlp.24010.bru |
| OpenAlex | W4402525530 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
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 the particular ways in which, the EP legitimised itself as an actor vis-à-vis Brexit, through different linguistic and discursive devices in its resolutions. The analysis illustrates that the EP’s use of soft law for self-legitimation purposes is an intriguing case of how legal instruments can be leveraged in multifaceted ways beyond their traditional function for broader communicative and political purposes. As such, the article extends the traditional understanding of the purposes of EP resolutions by explicitly acknowledging them as powerful discursive resources for self-legitimation
Brexit · Critical discourse analysis · Economics · Epistemology · European union · Function (biology · Ideology · Legitimation · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Sociology · European and International Law Studies · European Union Policy and Governance · Legal Language and Interpretation · Law · Philosophy
Discourse and Practice
What is Political Discourse Analysis?
Managing Legitimacy
Rising despite the polycrisis? The European Parliament’s strategies of self-empowerment after Lisbon
Analysing Discourse
Managing Disintegration
Pragmatism and the Limits to the European Parliament’s Strategies for Self-Empowerment
The law and critical discourse studies
In the spotlight, or behind the scenes? The European Parliament as an actor in Article 50 withdrawal negotiations
Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis
Strategies of legitimization in political discourse
Negotiating Brexit
Setting the limits
Game of deals
Mythopoetic legitimation and the recontextualisation of Europe’s foundational myth
Reimagining Europe and its (dis)integration
The legitimation of the European Union in the news media
In the name of the nobility of the cause, what I did is right
Populating ‘solidarity’ in political debate
The Discursive Construction of National Identities
Rhetorical legitimation
The Relative Power of Negativity
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |