Myth in European Union identity Representation and meaning in the discourses on the common foreign and security policy

A new process of identity formation has been taking place around the institutions of the European Union (EU). The image of this new European identity could be summarised as portraying the EU as a force for good. This construction is based on the will to show the EU as a positive international actor. The aim of this thesis is to illuminate some of the ideational mechanisms that shape the identity of the EU. Myth is described as one of the specific constituents of identity and as the concept which encompasses the two functions of representation and of producing meaning.
The institutional discourses of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) constitute the central empirical material. These discourses provide evidence of the existence of political myths within EU identity. The first objective consists of the identification of myths as ideological structures that shape the representations of EU identity. In addition, it is presupposed that EU identity carries meanings. A second objective of this study consists in elucidating the existence of socio-political meanings associated with the myths of EU identity. This is achieved by also examining a second group of empirical material, namely academic works that deal with CFSP and its institutional discourses. The two research objectives presented in this thesis are important in the study of the ideological aspect of EU integration because they account for the political implications of discourse.