Battlefield EU: Macedonian parties’ representations in times of crisis

Abstract

Abstract EU is a discursive field where multiple meanings and representations are created, negotiated and contested. Research has shown that the concept possess an interpretive power often used as an instrument of political confrontation. Such is the case, this study argues, with the two largest Macedonian parties – VMRO-DPMNE and the Social Democrats – who in a pursuit of changing or maintaining the power structuration in the society have produced a discourse on EU that best fits their political agendas. In a situation of a prolonged political crisis, and a significant involvement of EU, the two parties have commodified the discourse on EU into an instrument of self-promotion and/or criticism of the other. Demonstrating the instrumental use of the representations of EU by analysing the discursive strategies and the linguistic means deployed are the general aims of this study.