Comparing the politising effect of EU versus national policies
(2019) Sovereignties in Contention:Nations, Regions and Citizens in Europe — Location: Madrid (20.June.2019)
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- Abstract
- This communication analyses whether European-lead policies and the media coverage about them may have an influence on citizens’ relationship to politics. To do so it looks at citizens’ opinion about welfare policies. Looking at citizens’ discourses about welfare policies is then important. The focus here is on a peculiar policy: European workers’ free movement policy. Media coverage about it might play a determinant role since citizens look for political information through media. Media coverage may then orientate citizens’ judgement about policies and may ultimately have (de)legitimizing effects regarding citizens’ assessment of the different policy options. Analysing citizens’ discourses enables to observe whether and how citizens rely on frames as discursive tool. Integrating media frames and their influence on citizens’ discourses, enables to assess whether or not media establish the formulation of the debate and/or its meaning. Methodologically, the analysis relies on a comparative design between France, Belgium and the UK. This selection displays different patterns of welfare reforms and different types of media system. TV bulletin and newspapers content are scrutinised. As regards citizens’ discourses, a secondary analysis of qualitative data is adopted to observe whether citizens rely on media narrative frames to express their opinion. Focus group-generated data are used in order to disentangle the effect of interpersonal discussion. The perspective shed light on the fact that: citizens are more interested in policies outcomes than in legitimacy or transparency debates and; despite this, they assess policies on the basis of ex-ante debates rather than on policies.
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Pennetreau, D. (2019). Comparing the politising effect of EU versus national policies. Sovereignties in Contention:Nations, Regions and Citizens in Europe, Madrid. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/127227