The Uses of the Past and European Integration

Austria between Lisbon, Ireland, and Euro 08

Bibliographic Data

ID7802137
AuthorsC Karner (0000-0001-7906-0759, University of Nottingham, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume17
Issue4
Pages387-410
Publication date2010-07-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueIdentities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1070-289X • E-ISSN: 1547-3384
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1070289x.2010.492311
OpenAlexW2028203703
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited23

This article examines Austrian national identity negotiations through a qualitative analysis of the country's ideologically heterogeneous media, with a focus on Austria's most widely read paper (and its popular readers’ letters pages) between April and August 2008. This turbulent period coincided with widening opposition to the EU's Lisbon reform treaty, Austria's co-hosting of the European football championship, and the collapse of the country's coalition government. This analysis of media coverage and readers’ letters focuses on the rhetorical strategies underpinning various discursive constructions of Austria's place within the EU. The following key findings are discussed: projections of perceived social ills and resulting anxieties onto the EU; the interpretative uses of the past—historical episodes selected from Austrian and other national contexts—to make sense of and politicize the present; constructions of ‘European ideals’ in juxtaposition to perceived ‘European realities’; and competing models of national identity in relation to the European ‘network state.’

Economics · European integration · European union · Ideology · International trade · Media studies · National identity · Negotiation · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Treaty · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · European Cultural and National Identity · European Union Policy and Governance · Law

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