Suchergebnisse

The book analyses the processes of institution and identity building of the European Union Diplomatic Service working on matters of foreign policy and external economic relations, both in Brussels and in the Commission's Delegations across the world. The book examines what images high ranking officials in charge of the EU foreign policy hold of the EU's and of the Commission's role in international politics. The author explains how the EU diplomatic network came into being, how it is currently organised and what changes are likely to take place with the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. Through an empirically grounded and theoretically informed approach, it analyses how their idea of Europe is enacted through the Commission's diplomatic practices. Carta demonstrates how processes of socialization can bring about different foreign policy priorities, role conceptions and identities. This book makes an important contribution to debates about the idea of Europe, the European Union and European foreign policy, as well as more generally to the analysis of how ideas, identities and self-images shape the daily practice of large institutional bodies in international politics. It will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, foreign policy, international organizations, international relations and diplomacy.

Discourse analysis offers an extremely diversified landscape, spanning time and disciplines far beyond the field of international relations (IR). With a rich lineage, it comes as no surprise that under the label "Discourse Analysis" (DA) one cannot find a unified theoretical family within IR but rather a plurality of heterogeneous ways of approaching discourse analysis. By leveraging the wealth of discourse analytical works accumulated over more than three decades, this article intends to discuss some of the main theoretical tenets of three competing perspectives on discourse analysis (PDAs): constructivism, critical realism and poststructuralism. It does so by tracing their links to their respective putative philosophical referents. Distinct from Milliken (1999), who consciously stresses the commonalities between various PDAs, this contribution identifies the differences between them. The paper proceeds as follows. First, it locates IR PDAs in the framework of debates over the core branches of the philosophy of social science. Constructivist, poststructuralist and critical realist PDAs will be located along both a foundational/nonfoundational ontological continuum and a positivist/post-positivist epistemological continuum. Secondly, it retraces the main tenets of post-structuralist, constructivist, and critical realist PDAs to discourse by identifying the relevant debates that have characterized the approach to discourse analysis in IR. Finally, it presents some methodological guidelines and provides examples on how DA endeavors have been practiced.

AbstractIn the field of political theory, few authors have spurred intellectual tirades and triggered collective fantasy as much as the sixteenth-century Florentine Secretary Niccoló Machiavelli. Despite all controversies, in the discipline of International Relations (IR) Machiavelli and hisThe Princehave been almost exclusively associated with classical realism. This largely unchallenged association contributed to the edification of the myth ofThe Princeas the ruthless symbol ofraison d'état, carrying transcendental lessons about the nature of politics and a set of prescriptions on how helmsmen should behave to seize, maintain, and reinforce their power. The realist hijacking of Machiavelli is at the core of the foundation of classical realism as an IR theory and its location at the very epicentre of IR as a discipline. This appropriation has, in turn, obscured alternative myths ofThe Prince,which depart from Machiavelli's reflections on thePrincipati nuovito readThe Princeas a radical manifesto for political change. The opening of the semantic space in the field of IR – spurred by the so-called interpretive turn – offers an opportunity to break this monochromatic reading. This article delves into two competing myths ofThe Prince: the classical realist myth and Gramsci's 'progressive' one to demonstrate its contested nature.

This contribution focuses on the implications of the institutional reform advanced by the Lisbon Treaty for the framing of discourses of European institutional actors. The article adopts a focused linguistic strategy aimed at identifying patterns of pronominal selection as useful tools to depict both the ways in which different EU actors in Brussels elaborate their sense of belonging, and also patterns of horizontal and vertical inter-institutional cooperation and conflict. The article firstly introduces the data and methodology employed in the analysis. Secondly, it sheds light on the main institutional arrangements established in the aftermath of Lisbon. Thirdly, it illustrates how referential/nomination strategies are on aggregate realised by interviewees. Finally, it presents an analysis of pronominal selection and contextualises the difficulties of individual actors working for the EU's institutions in dealing with the current institutional structure.

This article looks at ways in which the EU's institutional representatives and individual civil servants of the Commission and the European External Action Service frame their discourse on the EU's international role and values. It proceeds as follows. Firstly, it introduces the data and methodology employed in Discourse Historical Analysis. Secondly, it presents a section to illustrate the metaphors that have been adopted to organise collected material. It identifies three main patterns of discourse-making and associates them with metaphors coming from the Western European literature tradition: two figures coming from Voltaire's Candide - Candide and Pangloss - and a character from a Mozart opera, Don Giovanni. Finally, the article focuses on perceptions of the EU's international actions and its core underlying values. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright NISA.]

This article looks at ways in which the EU's institutional representatives and individual civil servants of the Commission and the European External Action Service frame their discourse on the EU's international role and values. It proceeds as follows. Firstly, it introduces the data and methodology employed in Discourse Historical Analysis. Secondly, it presents a section to illustrate the metaphors that have been adopted to organise collected material. It identifies three main patterns of discourse-making and associates them with metaphors coming from the Western European literature tradition: two figures coming from Voltaire's Candide – Candide and Pangloss – and a character from a Mozart opera, Don Giovanni. Finally, the article focuses on perceptions of the EU's international actions and its core underlying values.