Kutter, A. (2020) Legitimation in the European Union: a discourse- and field-theoretical view

Kutter, A. (2020) Legitimation in the European Union: a discourse- and field-theoretical view. London et al.: Palgrave Macmillan.

This book offers a transdisciplinary perspective on the question of how political authority and legitimacy is constructed in the postnational setting of the European Union. Drawing on the example of the EU constitutional debate and the use of ‘EU constitutional speak’ in Polish and French broadsheets, more particularly, the book reveals the transformation that claims for political authority and legitimacy undergo when they are being transposed from the discourse field of multilateral negotiation to that of national media. Through an original combination of linguistic theory of discourse, Bourdieu’s field theory, and his notion of symbolic power, the book develops a framework for the discourse study of legitimation and Europeanization that suggests itself for application beyond the case studied in the book. To students of European integration, the book demonstrates the potential these concepts have for unravelling the implicit practices of postnational polity building. Discourse researchers, on the other hand, will discover how detailed text analyses gain significance in debates related to the macro level of political organisation when guided by sociological and political theory.

For more information see https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030330309; https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-030-33031-6