IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ulb/ulbeco/2013-336753.html

‘A Force for Good’: The Narrative Construction of Ethical EU–Vietnam Trade Relations

Author

Listed:
  • Camille Nessel
  • Elke Verhaeghe

Abstract

Political representation of problems includes an aim to control an audience's impressions and create a societally-acceptable social reality. This paper analyses the narrative construction of ethical trade between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam. As an undemocratic Other, Vietnam has been sharply criticized for its human rights record by civil society and Members of European Parliament. Yet, the EU recently concluded two trade agreements with Vietnam. We argue that, unchallenged by the European Parliament, the European Commission created a performative 'story of change' for its European audience by simultaneously appealing to underlying 'neoliberal' and 'development' paradigms. In this narrative, the EU and Vietnam star as the main characters, who, in their joint attempts to make bilateral trade 'a force for good', live moments of heroism, encounter fleeting instances of victimhood, and defeat villains on the path to ethical trade.

Suggested Citation

  • Camille Nessel & Elke Verhaeghe, 2021. "‘A Force for Good’: The Narrative Construction of Ethical EU–Vietnam Trade Relations," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/336753, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/336753
    Note: SCOPUS: ar.j
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/336753/4/JofCommonMarketStudieEthicalEUVietnamTrade.pdf
    File Function: Œuvre complète ou partie de l'œuvre
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patrick Holden, 2019. "Finding Common Ground? European Union and European Civil Society Framing of the Role of Trade in the Sustainable Development Goals," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 956-976, September.
    2. Aram Ziai, 2013. "The discourse of “development” and why the concept should be abandoned," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 123-136.
    3. Ian Manners, 2002. "Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 235-258, June.
    4. 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.
    5. Katharina Luise Meissner, 2016. "A case of failed interregionalism? Analyzing the EU-ASEAN free trade agreement negotiations," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 319-336, September.
    6. Sophie Meunier & Kalypso Nicolaidis, 2019. "The Geopoliticization of European Trade and Investment Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(S1), pages 103-113, September.
    7. 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)

    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. Camille Nessel & Elke Verhaeghe, 2022. "‘A Force for Good’: The Narrative Construction of Ethical EU–Vietnam Trade Relations," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 741-758, May.
    2. Bart-Jaap Verbeek, 2022. "Embedded Neoliberalism and the Legitimacy of the Post-Lisbon European Union Investment Policy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(3), pages 110-120.
    3. Emil Kirchner, 2024. "Geo-economic and geopolitical developments in EU-asia security relations," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 333-349, September.
    4. Aukje van Loon, 2020. "The Selective Politicization of Transatlantic Trade Negotiations," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 325-335.
    5. 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.
    6. Thomas Jacobs & Niels Gheyle & Ferdi De Ville & Jan Orbie, 2023. "The Hegemonic Politics of ‘Strategic Autonomy’ and ‘Resilience’: COVID‐19 and the Dislocation of EU Trade Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 3-19, January.
    7. Andrea C. Bianculli, 2020. "Politicization and Regional Integration in Latin America: Implications for EU–MERCOSUR Negotiations?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 254-265.
    8. Dennis Broeders & Fabio Cristiano & Monica Kaminska, 2023. "In Search of Digital Sovereignty and Strategic Autonomy: Normative Power Europe to the Test of Its Geopolitical Ambitions," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 1261-1280, September.
    9. 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.
    10. Sandra Eckert, 2021. "The European Green Deal and the EU's Regulatory Power in Times of Crisis," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(S1), pages 81-91, September.
    11. Bart-Jaap Verbeek, 2022. "Embedded Neoliberalism and the Legitimacy of the Post-Lisbon European Union Investment Policy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(3), pages 110-120.
    12. Pierre Haroche, 2024. "Geoeconomic Power Europe: When Global Power Competition Drives EU Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 938-954, July.
    13. Anna Herranz‐Surrallés & Chad Damro & Sandra Eckert, 2024. "The Geoeconomic Turn of the Single European Market? Conceptual Challenges and Empirical Trends," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 919-937, July.
    14. Paula Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik & Sandra Lavenex & Philipp Lutz, 2023. "Expanding, Complementing, or Substituting Multilateralism? EU Preferential Trade Agreements in the Migration Regime Complex," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(2), pages 49-61.
    15. Peter Viggo Jakobsen, 2009. "Small States, Big Influence: The Overlooked Nordic Influence on the Civilian ESDP," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 81-102, January.
    16. Luuk Middelaar, 2016. "The Return of Politics – The European Union after the crises in the eurozone and Ukraine," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 495-507, May.
    17. Loredana SIMIONOV, 2021. "European Union's pursuit of resilience in the Eastern Neighbourhood," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 12(4), pages 257-266, February.
    18. May-Britt Stumbaum, 2015. "The diffusion of norms in security-related fields: views from China, India and the EU," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 331-347, September.
    19. Tanja A. Börzel & Thomas Risse, 2009. "Diffusing (Inter-) Regionalism - The EU as a Model of Regional Integration," KFG Working Papers p0007, Free University Berlin.
    20. Eugénia C. Heldt, 2023. "Europe’s Global Gateway: A New Instrument of Geopolitics," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(4), pages 223-234.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:ulb:ulbeco:2013/336753. 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: Benoit Pauwels (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecsulbe.html .

    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.