Discussion on forthcoming book: "Politicisation, Democratisation and EU Identity"

Discussion with the author, Claudia Wiesner (Fulda University),with commentary by Mirjam Dageförde (AUP) Thursday, April 4, 17:00

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What is it that unites the European Union as a polity? Why is it necessary to democratise the EU? Can EU politicisation help democratising the EU? Why do EU citizens in referenda seemingly vote against the EU? And how can a European identity develop?

To tackle these questions, this book makes a theoretical, conceptual and empirical contribution to the study of EU politicisation, democratisation, identity formation, and the ways these three are related to one another. The results of a thorough comparative analysis of two prototypical cases, namely French and German national EU discourses and in particular the discourses on the Treaty on a Constitution for Europe (TCE) in 2005, are discussed in relation to more current events such as Brexit and the French elections of 2022. The book thus develops key concepts and theoretical models and delivers profound findings on EU democratisation, identity, politicisation and contestation and their interrelations. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European Union studies/politics, democratic theory, discourse analysis and more broadly to comparative politics.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons About the author: Claudia Wiesner is Professor of Political Science at Fulda University of Applied Sciences, a member of the board of directors of the “Point Alpha Research Institute”, and adjunctProfessor in Political Science at Jyväskylä University (Finland). She directs the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence “Europe in the World, is a PI in several other international research projects and networks, and has been a Visiting Fellow at Institutions such as the Minda de Gunzburg Centre for European Studies at Harvard University, New York University, the Robert Schumann Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute (EUI), and the Berlin Social Sciences Centre (WZB). Wiesner´s main research focuses on Europe in the World and the comparative study of democracy and governance in the EU, putting particular emphasis on the related concepts, ideas and theories. She has published with publishers such as Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge, Springer and Nomos and journal special issues and articles in journals such as Contemporary Political Theory, integration, Journal of European Integration, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Leviathan, Politics and Governance, Political Research Exchange, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, Redescriptions,Parliaments, Estates and Representation, Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft and Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft. Her most recent books are: "Politicisation,Democratisation and Identity formation in the EU” (Routledge 2024) and “The War Against Ukraine and the EU: Facing New Realities” (Palgrave Macmillan 2024, edited by Claudia Wiesner and Michèle Knodt).