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Imagining Europe: Framing European Integration in the Lithuanian National Newspapers 1992-2004

Ivanauskaite, Milda LU (2025) EUHR18 20251
European Studies
Abstract
This explorative thesis observes how European integration was framed in Lithuanian mass media in the years leading to the accession to the European Union, using it as a case study in the Central Eastern European region entering the EU in 2004. It is situated in the context of the emergence of the concept of European identity in the 1970s expressing the need for European Union countries to develop a common identity. The study offers a framing analysis of articles of the two largest Lithuanian national newspapers, Lietuvos rytas and Respublika stretching over the years 1992-2004 focusing on five events marking the evolution of Lithuanian-EU relations throughout the study period. On an epistemological basis of social constructivism employing... (More)
This explorative thesis observes how European integration was framed in Lithuanian mass media in the years leading to the accession to the European Union, using it as a case study in the Central Eastern European region entering the EU in 2004. It is situated in the context of the emergence of the concept of European identity in the 1970s expressing the need for European Union countries to develop a common identity. The study offers a framing analysis of articles of the two largest Lithuanian national newspapers, Lietuvos rytas and Respublika stretching over the years 1992-2004 focusing on five events marking the evolution of Lithuanian-EU relations throughout the study period. On an epistemological basis of social constructivism employing the concepts of civic and cultural identity and belonging, using inductive framing methods inspired by Gamson & Lasch and van Gorp, the study aims to explore the variety of European integration frames focusing on framing and reasoning devices.
Findings suggest that European integration was mostly seen as a pragmatic choice in the context of geopolitical tension, rather than a decision led by cultural closeness, making the civic European identity significantly more pronounced than the cultural. The framing of tangible benefit-based relationship between Lithuania and the EU remained present during the whole period of analysis, accompanied by skeptical depictions of integration, revealing a complex picture of the integration process in one of the most EU-positive societies in the Eastern European region. (Less)
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author
Ivanauskaite, Milda LU
supervisor
organization
course
EUHR18 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
mass media, newspapers, Lithuania, Eastern enlargement, European Union, framing analysis, social constructivism, identity, European Studies
language
English
id
9213308
date added to LUP
2025-10-01 10:44:34
date last changed
2025-10-01 10:44:34
@misc{9213308,
  abstract     = {{This explorative thesis observes how European integration was framed in Lithuanian mass media in the years leading to the accession to the European Union, using it as a case study in the Central Eastern European region entering the EU in 2004. It is situated in the context of the emergence of the concept of European identity in the 1970s expressing the need for European Union countries to develop a common identity. The study offers a framing analysis of articles of the two largest Lithuanian national newspapers, Lietuvos rytas and Respublika stretching over the years 1992-2004 focusing on five events marking the evolution of Lithuanian-EU relations throughout the study period. On an epistemological basis of social constructivism employing the concepts of civic and cultural identity and belonging, using inductive framing methods inspired by Gamson & Lasch and van Gorp, the study aims to explore the variety of European integration frames focusing on framing and reasoning devices.
Findings suggest that European integration was mostly seen as a pragmatic choice in the context of geopolitical tension, rather than a decision led by cultural closeness, making the civic European identity significantly more pronounced than the cultural. The framing of tangible benefit-based relationship between Lithuania and the EU remained present during the whole period of analysis, accompanied by skeptical depictions of integration, revealing a complex picture of the integration process in one of the most EU-positive societies in the Eastern European region.}},
  author       = {{Ivanauskaite, Milda}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Imagining Europe: Framing European Integration in the Lithuanian National Newspapers 1992-2004}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}