CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Laffitte, Thomas Pierre |
|---|---|
| Title | 'We Are The Champions' European Economic Patriotism In France |
| Summary | Studies of economic patriotism have not payed enough attention to the discursive usage of Europe. Europe is a composite discursive reference and the variation in its salience needs a better understanding. This paper will investigate the discursive references to Europe made by French actors in the economic sphere. More precisely, it aims to study economic patriotic discourse which use Europe as the territory of reference, in case of mergers between French ‘national champions’ and other European competitors. Unexpectedly, despite the historical tendency of the French state to protect its domestic firms from foreign takeover, not only are the French policymakers less willing to intervene, they are also supporting mergers with European competitors by using a European patriotic discourse. By mapping the public debate surrounding these cases, we explain why the majority of political actors supported these mergers, by using, with more or less emphasis, a European rhetoric. Namely, the main findings of this contribution reveal a strategic, if not an opportunistic usage of a European rhetoric by French policy makers. Europe is referred to as a new patrie only when French companies are taken over by other European competitors. To legitimize what might be perceived as a loss, French political actors use a European patriotic discourse, with a special emphasis on the idea of “European champion”. This rhetoric is also strongly linked to the discourse about the rise of a “threatening” China. |
| Supervisor | Fetzer, Thomas |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/laffitte_thomas.pdf |
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