Cover not available
Article published In:
(De)legitimising EUrope in times of crisis
Edited by Franco Zappettini and Samuel Bennett
[Journal of Language and Politics 21:2] 2022
► pp. 300–319

“We” in the EU: (De) legitimizing power relations and status

The case of the 2019 European elections in Romania

| University of Bucharest
| University of Bucharest

The article analyzes how the leaders and the candidates of the main parties in Romania built a European field of power and subject positions in the context of the 2019 European elections. We adopt the premise that the (re) positioning of these politicians towards the EU is part of their ongoing strategies of (de) legitimization. In this respect, the study focuses on how they assign themselves a “European authority” in relation to audiences through their positioning as actors in the field. On the basis of a mainly critically discursive methodological framework, we analyze a corpus consisting of electoral messages on Facebook. The research reveals the ways in which the political actors build claims, representations and positionings about the EU through naturalizing (a) symmetric relations, statuses, and symbolic power hierarchies.

Keywords: European elections, political discourse, legitimization, claims-making, representations, positioning, dispositive, field of power
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Discourse on Europe. Contexts of research
  • 3.Methodological design
  • 4.Findings
  • 5.Conclusions
  • References
Published online: 11 January 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.21067.bec
References
Aalberg, Toril, Frank Esser, Carsten Reinemann, Jesper Stromback, and Claes De Vreese
(eds) 2016 Populist Political Communication in Europe. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Angermuller, Johannes
2014 Poststructuralist Discourse Analysis: Subjectivity in Enunciative Pragmatics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Beciu, Camelia, and Mirela Lazăr
2018 “Migration and Country Status: The Rearticulation of Identities through Media Counter-Discourses.” In Debating Migration as a Public Problem. National Publics and Transnational Fields, ed. by Camelia Beciu, Mălina Ciocea, Irina Diana Mădroane, and Alexandru I. Cârlan, 41–63. Peter Lang. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2020 “Entre Facebook et Parole Télévisuelle, Quels Recadrages des Enjeux Nationaux et Européens dans l’Espace Politique Roumain ?” In L’Europe au Défi des Populismes Nationaux: La Communication Politique Centrifuge des Elections de 2019, ed. by Philippe Maarek, and Nicolas Pélissier, 117–143. Paris: L’Harmattan.Google Scholar
Beciu, Camelia, Irina Diana Mădroane, Alexandru I. Cârlan, and Mălina Ciocea
2017 “Power Relations, Agency and Discourse in Transnational Social Fields.” Critical Discourse Studies 14 (3): 227–235. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bennett, Samuel
2019a “Values as Tools of Legitimation in EU and UK Brexit Discourses.” In Discourses of Brexit, ed. by Veronika Koller, Susanne Kopf, and Marlene Miglbauer, 17–32. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2019b “ ‘Crisis’ as a Discursive Strategy in Brexit Referendum Campaigns.” Critical Discourse Studies 16 (4): 449–464. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bennett, Samuel, Artur Lipiński, Agnieszka Stępińska, David Abadi, Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, et al.
2020 “Populist Communication on Social Media.” [Research Report] Centre for Social Sciences, Centre of Excellence of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Hungary). ffhalshs-02735283f.Google Scholar
Block, Elena, and Ralph Negrine
2017 “The Populist Communication Style: Toward a Critical Framework.” International Journal of Communication 111: 178–197.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre
2005 “The Political Field, the Social Science Field, and the Journalistic Field.” In Bourdieu and the Journalistic Field, ed. by Rodney Benson, and Erik Neveu, 29–48. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Bucher, Taina
2012 “The Friendship Assemblage: Investigating Programmed Sociality on Facebook.” Television & New Media 14 (6): 479–493. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Charaudeau, Patrick
2002 “A Communicative Conception of Discourse”. Discourse Studies 4 (3): 301–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 Les Médias et l’Information: L’Impossible Transparence du Discours. 2nd ed. Bruxelles: De Boeck-Ina. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ciocea, Mălina, and Alexandru I. Cârlan
2012 “Debating Migration as a Public Problem: Diasporic Stances in Media Discourse.” Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations 14 (4): 181–201.Google Scholar
Conrad, Maximilian
2014 Europeans and the Public Sphere Communication without Community? Stuttgart: Ibidem Verlag.Google Scholar
Cramer, Jennifer
2010 “ ‘Do We Really Want to Be like Them?’: Indexing Europeanness through Pronominal Use.” Discourse & Society 21 (6): 619–637. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Vreese, H. Claes, Frank Esser, Toril Aalberg, Carsten Reinemann, and James Stanyer
2018 “Populism as an Expression of Political Communication Content and Style: A New Perspective.” International Journal of Press/Politics 23 (4): 423–438. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Diez, Thomas
2014 “Setting the Limits: Discourse and EU Foreign Policy.” Cooperation and Conflict 49 (3): 319–333. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fairclough, Norman
1994 “Conversationalization of Public Discourse and the Authority of the Consumer.” In The Authority of the Consumer. Lancaster University Center for the Study of Cultural Values, ed. by Russell Keat, Nigel Whiteley, and Nicholas Abercrombie, 235–49. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
2003 Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fairclough, Norman, and Eve Chiapello
2002 “Understanding the New Management Ideology: A Transdisciplinary Contribution from Critical Discourse Analysis and New Sociology of Capitalism.” Discourse and Society 13 (2): 185–208. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fairclough, Isabela, and Norman Fairclough
2012 Political Discourse Analysis: A Method for Advanced Students. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fossum, John Erik, Philip Schlesinger, and Geir Ove Kvaerk
(eds) 2007 Public Sphere and Civil Society? Transformations of the European Union. ARENA Report 2. Oslo: ARENA. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hubé, Nicolas
2018 “Communiquer l’Europe, Légitimer l’Europe. Les Enjeux Historiques de l’Opinion Publique pour les Institutions Européennes.” In Annuaire Français de Relations Internationales, vol. XIX1, 947–964. Paris: La Documentation française.Google Scholar
Kedves, Ana
2016 “Discursive Legitimation in Online Crowdfunding: A Study of Kickstarter Projects Promoting Human Rights.” Globe: A Journal of Language, Culture and Communication 31: 46–63.Google Scholar
Koerber, Amy, and Lonie McMichael
2008 “ Qualitative Sampling Methods: A Primer for Technical Communicators .” Journal of Business and Technical Communication 22 (4): 454–473. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krzyżanowski, Michal
2010 The Discursive Construction of European Identities: A Multilevel Approach to Discourse and Identity in the Transforming European Union. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Larsen, Henrik
2014 “Discourses of State Identity and Post-Lisbon National Foreign Policy: The Case of Denmark.” Cooperation and Conflict 49 (3): 368–385. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lochard, Guy
(ed) 2006 Les Débats Publics dans les Télévisions Européennes. Paris: L’Harmattan.Google Scholar
Mădroane, Irina Diana
2018 “Migrant Identities and Practices in Media Advocacy Campaigns. The Construction of Claims and Audiences.” In Debating Migration as a Public Problem. National Publics and Transnational Fields, ed. by Camelia Beciu, Mălina Ciocea, Irina Diana Mădroane, and Alexandru I. Cârlan, 175–198. Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Mégie, Antoine, and Frédéric Mérand
2013 “L’Union Européenne et le Nouvel Equilibre des Puissances.” Politique européenne 391: 9–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moffitt, Benjamin
2016 The Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style, and Representation. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Nanz, Patrizia
2007 “Multiple Voices: An Interdiscursive Concept of the European Public Sphere.” In Public Sphere and Civil Society? Tranformations of the European Union, ed. by John Erik Fossum, Philip Schlesinger, and Geir Ove Kvaerk, 11–29. ARENA Report 2. Oslo: ARENA.Google Scholar
Nel, Noël
1990 Le Débat Télévisé. Paris: Armand Colin.Google Scholar
Pandelea, Nicoleta
2020 “Vers un Populisme Digital? La Construction du Discours Politique dans le Contexte des Elections Européennes de 2019.” In L’Europe au Défi des Populismes Nationaux: La Communication Politique Centrifuge des Elections de 2019, ed. by Philippe Maarek, and Nicolas Pélissier. Paris: L’Harmattan.Google Scholar
Reyes, Antonio
2011 “ Strategies of Legitimization in Political Discourse: From Words to Actions .” Discourse & Society 22 (6): 781–807. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rojo Martín, Luisa, and Teun A. Van Dijk
1997 “ ‘There Was a Problem, and It Was Solved!’: Legitimating the Expulsion of ‘Illegal’ Migrants in Spanish Parliamentary Discourse .” Discourse & Society 8 (4): 523–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saward, Michael
2006 „The Representative Claim.” Contemporary Political Theory 5 (3), 297–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vaara, Eero
2014 “Struggles over Legitimacy in the Eurozone Crisis: Discursive Legitimation Strategies and Their Ideological Underpinnings.” Discourse & Society 25 (4): 500–518. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vaara, Eero, and Philippe Monin
2010 “ Recursive Perspective on Discursive Legitimation and Organizational Action in Mergers and Acquisitions .” Organization Science 21 (1): 3–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Dijk, A. Teun
1998 Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Van Leeuwen, Theo
2008 Discourse and Practice: New Tools for Critical Discourse Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Leeuwen, Theo, and Ruth Wodak
1999 “Legitimizing Immigration – a Discourse-Historical Analysis.” Discourse Studies 1 (1): 83–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ward, Tom
2010 “The European Union: A Crisis of Legitimacy?” European View 91:115–127. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weizman, Elda
2008 Positioning in Media Dialogue. Negotiating Roles in News Interviews. Amsterdam and Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Witschge, Tamara, C W. Anderson, David Domingo, and Albert Hermida
2018 “Dealing with the Mess (We Made): Unraveling Hybridity, Normativity, and Complexity in Journalism Studies.” Journalism 20 (5): 651–659. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wodak, Ruth
2002 “Fragmented Identities: Redefining and Recontextualizing National Identity. In Politics as Text and Talk: Analytic Approaches to Political Discourse, ed. by Paul Chilton, and Chistina Schäffner, 143–173. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 “ ‘Us’ and ‘Them’: Inclusion and Exclusion – Discrimination via Discourse.” In Identity, Belonging and Migration, ed. by Gerard Delanty, Ruth Wodak, and Paul R. Jones, 54–77. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Google Scholar
2018 “Discourse and European Integration”. KFG Working Paper Series, 86, KollegForschergruppe (KFG) “The Transformative Power of Europe“. Freie Universität Berlin. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zappettini, Franco
2019a “The Official Vision for ‘Global Britain’: Brexit as Rupture and Continuity between Free Trade, Liberal Internationalism and ‘Values’.” In Discourses of Brexit, ed. by Veronika Koller, Susanne Kopf, and Marlene Miglbauer, 140–154. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2019b “The Brexit Referendum: How Trade and Immigration in the Discourses of the Official Campaigns Have Legitimised a Toxic (Inter) National Logic.” Critical Discourse Studies 16 (4): 403–419. DOI logoGoogle Scholar