Two and a Half Tales of Europe: How the European Commission Narrates Peoplehood in Migration and Citizenship Policy
研究欧盟委员会2007-2020年移民与公民政策官方沟通，分析其如何通过叙事构建“我们”的人民性，发现公民叙事比移民叙事更能营造归属感，且委员会对“我们”的认知模糊。
Abstract Since 2019, the European Commission has had a vice president for ‘promoting our European way of life’, but whether a European ‘we’ exists at all is disputed. This article investigates whether and how the Commission has constructed this ‘we’ through narratives of peoplehood. Analysing official communications in migration and citizenship policy between 2007 and 2020, it traces three narrative elements: characters, plot and main theme. The article argues, first, that the Commission's narrative of ‘realizing European citizenship’ creates a sense of peoplehood more than its narrative of ‘achieving a comprehensive migration policy’ and, second, that it has largely repeated its citizenship narrative while adapting its migration narrative. The findings suggest that the Commission is a rather subtle narrator of peoplehood and call into question whether it has a clear idea of the ‘we’ whose ‘way of life’ it seeks to promote.