Introduction: Structuring political conflict about Europe: National media in transnational discourse analysis

Abstract

What lessons can be drawn from the failure of the 'Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe' to gain legitimacy? The introductory article presents the analytical framework, empirical data and methods employed by an international research team at the University of Bremen to explore this question. First, it sets out the framework used in this study to examine the patterns and dynamics of political conflict on European integration in the context of EU constitutional politics. Second, it describes the construction of the empirical data set which includes 7,378 articles from 31 print media, all of which cover the political debates in six new and old member states during Constitutional Treaty ratification, rejection and reflection (October 2004 -October 2005. Third, methodologically speaking, it outlines the quantitative and qualitative methods of political discourse analysis that reflect a special focus on argumentation and justification, transnational discursive interaction and inclusion/exclusion. Finally, a number of comparative findings are highlighted that correct popular misconceptions about why the TCE failed and help to determine to what degree text, process and context are to blame for this.

Research Methods in European Union Studies

“…An increasing number of scholars have turned to the contribution of discursive contention to the development of a European public sphere, while for instance studying the debates about treaty ratification (Liebert, 2007). In this perspective, Euroscepticism can be re-defined as a discursive and reactive identity formation in the public sphere (Trenz and de Wilde, 2009) rather than as an essentialised national or party position.…”

The New Politics of European Civil Society

“…This move has attracted the attention of scholars from sociology, history and comparative political science to investigate the contested nature of the emerging polity, its internal ruptures and new opportunities for collective action and mobilization (Imig and Tarrow 2001;Liebert 2007aLiebert , 2009Ruzza 2004a;Tilly 2004). Contestation is linked to the politicization of the European Union in the name of the public interest, articulated not only by private interest organizations but also, and primarily, by the 'voices' of dissatisfied groups, misrepresented minorities, or even larger majorities of society.…”

“…2 This policy field differs markedly from other EU policy domains in at least five important aspects. First, although a highly complex, abstract and technical matter that makes it particularly difficult for civil society to engage with, the case of the 'Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe' (TCE) has become a highly contested issue in national debates on Europe and a catalyst for transnational activism and the transnationalization of the public sphere (Joachim and Locher 2008;Liebert 2007a;Tarrow 2005;Trenz 2007). Second, the TCE has been symbolically important in terms of the first EU treaty reform inviting civil society to participate in the framework of the 'Constitutional Convention'.…”

Participation, Dialogue, and Civic Engagement: Understanding the Role of Organized Civil Society in Promoting Active Citizenship in the European Union

“…Meaning is thus produced and reproduced through an identifiable set of practices'" (Hajer, 2002, p. 63 ). For the purpose of this article, discourse analysis is a useful tool as it looks at the interaction between different publics, the reciprocal dynamics of power and the establishment of specific argumentative strategies formulated to impose a certain meaning on social reality (Liebert, 2007).…”