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Europe Risks Dying and He Has the Only Cure: The Strategic Narratives Used by Emmanuel Macron About the European Union and France’s Role Within It

Kennerhed, Isabella LU (2025) STVK04 20242
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Since even before being sworn in as president of France in 2017, Emmanuel Macron has been a prominent advocate of the European Union in a time of growing Euroscepticism. Throughout his presidency, France, Europe, and the world have experienced political upheaval such as the covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine with various consequences. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the strategic narratives used by Macron about the EU, its role in the world and France’s role in the EU by using the theory of strategic narratives with its three different levels of narratives: system, identity, issue. A qualitative content analysis is done on the two speeches held at the Sorbonne University in 2017 and 2024 where Macron... (More)
Since even before being sworn in as president of France in 2017, Emmanuel Macron has been a prominent advocate of the European Union in a time of growing Euroscepticism. Throughout his presidency, France, Europe, and the world have experienced political upheaval such as the covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine with various consequences. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the strategic narratives used by Macron about the EU, its role in the world and France’s role in the EU by using the theory of strategic narratives with its three different levels of narratives: system, identity, issue. A qualitative content analysis is done on the two speeches held at the Sorbonne University in 2017 and 2024 where Macron presents his vision for the EU with the results showing the narratives remaining mostly consistent between the two speeches. The dominating narrative is that the world has changed and so must the EU to ensure the protection of “common European values and interests”. Macron presents France as a leader within Europe and argues for the importance of adapting European defence-, security-, and trade-policy to strengthen European sovereignty so that European democracy and Europe itself is protected. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Kennerhed, Isabella LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK04 20242
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Strategic narratives, Emmanuel Macron, France, European Union, Europe
language
English
id
9179419
date added to LUP
2025-03-04 12:56:01
date last changed
2025-03-04 12:56:01
@misc{9179419,
  abstract     = {{Since even before being sworn in as president of France in 2017, Emmanuel Macron has been a prominent advocate of the European Union in a time of growing Euroscepticism. Throughout his presidency, France, Europe, and the world have experienced political upheaval such as the covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine with various consequences. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the strategic narratives used by Macron about the EU, its role in the world and France’s role in the EU by using the theory of strategic narratives with its three different levels of narratives: system, identity, issue. A qualitative content analysis is done on the two speeches held at the Sorbonne University in 2017 and 2024 where Macron presents his vision for the EU with the results showing the narratives remaining mostly consistent between the two speeches. The dominating narrative is that the world has changed and so must the EU to ensure the protection of “common European values and interests”. Macron presents France as a leader within Europe and argues for the importance of adapting European defence-, security-, and trade-policy to strengthen European sovereignty so that European democracy and Europe itself is protected.}},
  author       = {{Kennerhed, Isabella}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Europe Risks Dying and He Has the Only Cure: The Strategic Narratives Used by Emmanuel Macron About the European Union and France’s Role Within It}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}