Mapping Solidarity in Europe: Discourse Networks in the Euro Crisis and Europe's Migration Crisis

Abstract

The dissertation analyses solidarity in Europe in times of crisis. It focuses on the Euro crisis and Europea s migration crisis discourse in the European Union (EU) member states Germany and Ireland from 2010 to 2015. I theorise solidarity from a discursive perspective and develop the discursive construction of solidarity approach to examine actorsa public statements on solidarity. The dissertation is situated in a discursive institutionalist framework and deploys a discourse network methodology in order to examine the changing meanings and varying actor constellations that shape the discourses on solidarity. The cumulative dissertation contains five different chapters that highlight different theoretical and empirical aspects in the study of solidarity discourses in times of crisis. By doing so, the dissertation points out new directions and signals new paths for future studies on solidarity.