Article published in:
Discourse analysis, policy analysis, and the borders of EU identityEdited by Caterina Carta and Ruth Wodak
[Journal of Language and Politics 14:1] 2015
► pp. 87–109
European identities and the revival of nationalism in the European Union
A discourse historical approach
To date, the concept of ‘European identity’ remains quite vague and obscure. Who is European and who is not? What values do Europeans share, and who is included in or excluded from the European community? This paper deals with the renegotiation of European identity/ies and the simultaneous increase of discourses about national security and nationalism in Europe, especially during the financial crisis since 2008. We first discuss a range of theoretical approaches to European identity from an interdisciplinary perspective. In a second step, after summarising the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) to Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) and especially the concept of topos, we illustrate the link between discursive constructions of European identities and cultural ‘Others’ via some recent examples of European and national debates on migration and economic issues. More specifically, we first analyse a speech by Geert Wilders on immigration and multiculturalism after the clashes in Tunisia in 2011 and the subsequent arrival of many refugees in Italy; secondly, we focus on a speech about British relations to the European Union in the 21st century by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron. It becomes apparent that debates about European identities – especially since the financial crisis of 2008 – have increasingly been accompanied by debates about both more traditional racialised cultural concerns and more recently, about economic security, leading to new distinctions between ‘Us’, the ‘real Europeans’, and ‘Them’, the ‘Others’. In this way, the socio-political unification of Europe is challenged – once again.
Keywords: European identity/ies, EU, nationalism, national identity, migration, security, discourse historical approach, political speeches,
topos
, Wilders, Cameron
Article outline
- 1.Introduction: The Many Meanings Of ‘Europe’
- 2.Some Theoretical Approaches To The Concept Of ‘European Identity’
- 2.1European identity as national identity
- 2.2European identity as a civic (post-national) identity
- 2.3European identity as a supranational/elite identity
- 3.The Discourse Historical Approach and the Discursive Construction of ‘Europeanness’
- 4.Inclusion and Exclusion: Government Discourses About, Europe, the Eu and the ‘Other’
- 4.1Geert Wilders ‘reconstructions of history’ and a European ‘Crisis’
- 4.2Envisioning/Imagining the 21st century European Union: From peace to prosperity
- 5.Conclusions – Towards a European Identity?
- Notes
-
References
Published online: 26 May 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.14.1.05wod
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.14.1.05wod
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