Normative Power Europe and the Importance of the Discursive Context: The European Union and the politics of religion

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

This article attempts to demonstrate the importance of the discursive context for whether and, if so, how the European Union (EU) can exert normative power in different policy areas. Surprisingly, the concept of power has not been extensively discussed in the academic literature on Normative Power Europe, with the notable exceptions of Diez (2013); Keene (2012); Forsberg (2011) and Huelss (2011) (who also discuss the meaning of the ‘normative’). Focusing on power, the question asked in this article is how the discursive context of the politics of religion affects the EU’s ability to exert normative power in this area. The article examines the politics of religion by looking at the case of the debate about human rights versus religion in the United Nations Human Rights Council after the year 2000. The broader point addressed in the article is whether the EU can exert normative power regardless of the discursive context of the policy area concerned.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1
JournalCooperation and Conflict
Volume49
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)419-437
Number of pages18
ISSN0010-8367
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2014

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Social Sciences - Discourse analysis, European Union, Human Rights Council, Normative Power Europe, politics of religion, United Nations

ID: 45705338