IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v62y2024i1p21-37.html

(De‐)politicization Discourse Strategies: The Case of Trade

Author

Listed:
  • Alex Andrione‐Moylan
  • Pieter de Wilde
  • Kolja Raube

Abstract

Examining (de‐)politicization as an actor‐driven phenomenon, this study asks: How and to what extent do actors in the public sphere attempt to (de‐)politicize European Union (EU) policies? (De‐)politicization is understood not only as a process but also as the deliberate framing of debates over EU issues at a domestic level. This paper conceptualizes (de‐)politicization acts in the public sphere and shows how these can be detected empirically through a claim‐level (de‐)politicization index. This approach is applied to a database of evaluations (claims) on EU trade, by EU actors, national executive actors and societal actors, surrounding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, in the media of six Member States (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, and Denmark). Whilst all kinds of actors may engage in (de‐)politicization, the analysis of the index allows us to determine if a certain category of actors does so to a greater or lesser extent compared with others.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Andrione‐Moylan & Pieter de Wilde & Kolja Raube, 2024. "(De‐)politicization Discourse Strategies: The Case of Trade," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 21-37, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:62:y:2024:i:1:p:21-37
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.13475
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13475
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jcms.13475?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Weaver, R. Kent, 1986. "The Politics of Blame Avoidance," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 371-398, October.
    2. Niels Gheyle, 2020. "Huddle Up! Exploring Domestic Coalition Formation Dynamics in the Differentiated Politicization of TTIP," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 301-311.
    3. Christine Hackenesch & Julian Bergmann & Jan Orbie, 2021. "Development Policy under Fire? The Politicization of European External Relations," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 3-19, January.
    4. Dirk De Bièvre & Patricia Garcia-Duran & Leif Johan Eliasson & Oriol Costa, 2020. "Editorial: Politicization of EU Trade Policy Across Time and Space," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 239-242.
    5. Hutter, Swen & Kriesi, Hanspeter, 2019. "Politicizing Europe in times of crisis," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 26(7), pages 996-1017.
    6. Nathan Lauwers & Jan Orbie & Sarah Delputte, 2021. "The Politicization of the Migration–Development Nexus: Parliamentary Discourse on the European Union Trust Fund on Migration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 72-90, January.
    7. Hooghe, Liesbet & Marks, Gary, 2009. "A Postfunctionalist Theory of European Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 1-23, January.
    8. Dirk De Bièvre & Arlo Poletti, 2020. "Towards Explaining Varying Degrees of Politicization of EU Trade Agreement Negotiations," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 243-253.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sina F Özdemir & Kristine Graneng & Pieter de Wilde, 2025. "EU executives on social media: Assessing the potential and trajectories of legitimation via public communication on Twitter," European Union Politics, , vol. 26(2), pages 255-280, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anke Moerland & Clara Weinhardt, 2020. "Politicisation ‘Reversed’: EU Free Trade Negotiations with West Africa and the Caribbean," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 266-276.
    2. Anke Moerland & Clara Weinhardt, 2020. "Politicisation ‘Reversed’: EU Free Trade Negotiations with West Africa and the Caribbean," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 266-276.
    3. Christine Hackenesch & Julian Bergmann & Jan Orbie, 2021. "Development Policy under Fire? The Politicization of European External Relations," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 3-19, January.
    4. Luca Carrieri, 2024. "Awakening the Europhile Giant: EU Issue Voting in Western and Central‐Eastern Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 262-284, January.
    5. Thomas M. Meyer & Katjana Gattermann, 2022. "Party contestation and news visibility abroad: The 2019 European Parliament election from a pan-European perspective," European Union Politics, , vol. 23(3), pages 398-416, September.
    6. Dirk De Bièvre & Patricia Garcia-Duran & Leif Johan Eliasson & Oriol Costa, 2020. "Editorial: Politicization of EU Trade Policy Across Time and Space," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 239-242.
    7. Jan Orbie & Viktor Opsomer & Yentyl Williams & Sarah Delputte & Joren Verschaeve, 2021. "Shielded against risk? European donor co‐ordination in Palestine," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 39(5), pages 703-720, September.
    8. Carlos Jalali & Patrícia Silva & Patrício Costa & Filipe Falcão, 2025. "Which cues matter: The effect of content cues on European Union support," European Union Politics, , vol. 26(4), pages 736-758, December.
    9. Wouter van der Brug & Katjana Gattermann & Claes H. de Vreese, 2022. "Electoral responses to the increased contestation over European integration. The European Elections of 2019 and beyond," European Union Politics, , vol. 23(1), pages 3-20, March.
    10. Anastasia Ershova, 2025. "More Than One Agent? Authority Expansion and Delegation Dynamics in the EU," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 1122-1136, October.
    11. repec:osf:socarx:d8vbq_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Stefan Telle & Lisanne de Blok & Catherine E. de Vries & Lorenzo Cicchi, 2022. "Elite‐Mass Linkages in the Preference Formation on Differentiated Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(6), pages 1663-1683, November.
    13. Dirk De Bièvre & Patricia Garcia-Duran & Leif Johan Eliasson & Oriol Costa, 2020. "Editorial: Politicization of EU Trade Policy Across Time and Space," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 239-242.
    14. Hutter, Swen, 2025. "Game Changers: National Referendums and the Politicization of Europe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 13, pages 1-20.
    15. Friedrich Plank & Niels Keijzer & Arne Niemann, 2021. "Outside‐in Politicization of EU–Western Africa Relations: What Role for Civil Society Organizations?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 161-179, January.
    16. Tim Heinkelmann-Wild & Lisa Kriegmair & Berthold Rittberger, 2020. "The EU Multi-Level System and the Europeanization of Domestic Blame Games," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 85-94.
    17. Tim Heinkelmann-Wild & Lisa Kriegmair & Berthold Rittberger, 2020. "The EU Multi-Level System and the Europeanization of Domestic Blame Games," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 85-94.
    18. Andreas C Goldberg & Lukas Benedikt Hoffmann, 2024. "Peoples’ perspectives on the ‘Future of Europe’ – A comparative study from within and beyond the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 25(1), pages 151-172, March.
    19. Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian & Zangl, Bernhard, 2020. "Zwischen Hoffen und Bangen: Zum Verhältnis von Autorität, Politisierung und Demokratisierung in internationalen Organisationen [Between hope and fear: On the relationship between authority, politicization,and democratization in international organ," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 5-36.
    20. Sofia Vasilopoulou & Katjana Gattermann, 2021. "Does Politicization Matter for EU Representation? A Comparison of Four European Parliament Elections," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 661-678, May.
    21. Swen Hutter, 2025. "Game Changers: National Referendums and the Politicization of Europe," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 13.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:62:y:2024:i:1:p:21-37. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.