The refugee crisis: the bane of Normative Power Europe? : A critical discourse analysis investigating the refugee crisis’ (2015-2016) effect on Normative Power Europe

Sammanfattning: The concept of Normative Power Europe (NPE) conceptualizes the European Union (EU) as a unique international actor, empowered by a foundation consisting of certain norms and values. Scholars of the NPE underline the significance of discursive representation strategies in the EU’s normative power international identity. A normative power EU should express no value-judgment or articulate any hierarchical positioning in the so-called othering– the construction of the self and the other– and display reflexivity. Previous research shows that NPE was weakened by Europe’s refugee crisis 2015-2016, partly by the strategic cooperation on migration that was established with Turkey. However, some argue that the European Parliament (EP) managed to uphold the normative power identity through safeguarding the values and norms of the EU’s normative basis. Through identifying and analyzing the discursive representations of Turkey 2010-2011, 2015-2016 and 2021, this thesis explores how and if the normative power EU via the EP withstood the challenges of the refugee crisis or if the crisis ultimately became the bane of NPE. The results show a dominant pattern of non-normative othering in all three cases, which undermines the claims of EP as a safeguard as well as the legitimacy of the NPE concept. The results however do not determine if the NPE concept is to be ruled out for good or not. The thesis contributes to the previous research on normative power, identity construction and European foreign policy.