Talking Europe — the Dilemma of Sovereignty and Modernization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8912334 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mats Braun (0000-0001-7574-3253, Institute of International Relations Prague, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 397-420 |
| Publication date | 2008-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cooperation and Conflict (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0010-8367 • E-ISSN: 1460-3691 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0010836708096882 |
| OpenAlex | W2072415400 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 32 |
There is a significant amount of scholarly literature produced on the topic of the alleged legitimacy deficit of the European Union (EU). This article is based on the assumption that the legitimacy of the EU is shaped largely by the domestic discourses on European governance. Therefore the stories of the individual countries are crucial for our understanding of EU legitimacy as a whole. The article is an analysis of how the legitimacy of the EU is constructed and shaped in the Czech and Swedish political discourses. It is based on discourse analysis and the constant comparative method of grounded theory, and suggests that the discourses on European unity in the two countries are structured around the nexus of modernization and sovereignty. Based on different constellations of this nexus, three ideal types are outlined: sovereignty unchallenged, sovereignty challenged and modernization unchallenged. In conclusion, it is suggested that the EU has been legitimized primarily as an instrument for modernization. Critics, however, base their argumentation on an underlying discourse on the sovereign people and on an understanding of the EU as a hindrance to progress. The advocates thus emphasize output-oriented legitimacy, while the critics are more concerned with input-based legitimacy
Argumentation theory · Dilemma · Economics · Epistemology · European union · International trade · Legitimacy · Modernization theory · Nexus (standard · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereignty · European and International Law Studies · European Politics and Security · European Union Policy and Governance · Law
Basics of qualitative research
Legitimacy and the European Union
The Discovery of Grounded Theory
Governing in Europe
Die Ordnung des Diskurses
Democracy in the New Europe
Security as Practice — Discourse Analysis and the Bosnian War
Framing to persuade. Sweden's decision to join the European Union
Why There is a Democratic Deficit in the EU
Rethinking the sovereign state model
Europe Between Integration and Disintegration
A Democratic Audit of the European Union
Europe as a Discursive Battleground
Elite Collusion and Public Defiance
The 1989 Revolutions and the Idea of Europe
Is something rotten in the state of Denmark?' Constructivism and European integration
The common sense of European integration
Reassessing Legitimacy in the European Union
Ironies of Sovereignty
The Myths of Europe
Nordic nostalgia
British and Danish European Policies in the 1990s
Which Europe
Modernity and the holocaust
Europe in Search of Legitimacy
Speaking 'Europe
The Study of Discourse in International Relations
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,27 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2024 (14) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |