TY - JOUR

T1 - Discourses of State identity and Post-Lisbon National Foreign Policy

T2 - the Case of Denmark

AU - Larsen, Henrik

N1 - special issue on Discourse Analysis and European Foreign Policy

PY - 2014/8/11

Y1 - 2014/8/11

N2 - The political system of the EU and its member states is frequently seen as postWestphalianwithin constructivist-inspired research. This is based on the view thatpolitical authority and legitimacy are to be found both at the EU level and the nationallevel with no clear borders between them. The question raised in this article is how themember states conceive of themselves as foreign policy actors in this situation wherethey are both politically embedded in EU foreign policy structures and, in most cases,formally able to act outside the EU structures in the field of foreign policy. The overallargument is that a pertinent answer to this question can be provided by looking at how(or whether) state identity is articulated in relation to the EU. The paper first presentstheoretical considerations relating to discursive articulations of state identity in an EUcontext. The relevance of these discursive articulations is then illustrated through theempirical example of Danish articulations of actorness prior to and post Lisbon. It isshown that the articulation of national actorness in relation to the EU varied across thedifferent areas of foreign policy before and after Lisbon. A research agenda that flowsfrom these considerations is outlined.

AB - The political system of the EU and its member states is frequently seen as postWestphalianwithin constructivist-inspired research. This is based on the view thatpolitical authority and legitimacy are to be found both at the EU level and the nationallevel with no clear borders between them. The question raised in this article is how themember states conceive of themselves as foreign policy actors in this situation wherethey are both politically embedded in EU foreign policy structures and, in most cases,formally able to act outside the EU structures in the field of foreign policy. The overallargument is that a pertinent answer to this question can be provided by looking at how(or whether) state identity is articulated in relation to the EU. The paper first presentstheoretical considerations relating to discursive articulations of state identity in an EUcontext. The relevance of these discursive articulations is then illustrated through theempirical example of Danish articulations of actorness prior to and post Lisbon. It isshown that the articulation of national actorness in relation to the EU varied across thedifferent areas of foreign policy before and after Lisbon. A research agenda that flowsfrom these considerations is outlined.

U2 - 10.1177/0010836713495000

DO - 10.1177/0010836713495000

M3 - Journal article

VL - 49

SP - 368

EP - 385

JO - Cooperation and Conflict

JF - Cooperation and Conflict

SN - 0010-8367

IS - 3

ER -