Discursive Identities in Foreign Policy : A poststructuralist discourse analysis of the EU’s foreign policy discourse on China at the time of war

Sammanfattning: How do shifting geopolitical landscapes influence foreign policy discourses and identities of international actors? This thesis analyses the discursive identities constructed in the European Union’s official foreign policy discourse on China since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The EU-China relationship is complex, and recent literature has identified that the EU’s discourse toward China has become more assertive and securitized. The analysis is undertaken to gain insight into how identities are constructed against the backdrop of deteriorated and ambiguous EU-China relations and China’s influential role in the war. It takes a poststructuralist approach to discourse analysis, building on the work of Lene Hansen (2006), arguing that identities are relational and constructed through discourses. The analysis examines how Presidents of the EU’s supranational institutions constitute the EU’s identity vis-à-vis China in speeches. The analysis finds that China’s identity often is constructed as a threat to the identity of the EU and the rules-based world order, while simultaneously recognizing China as an invaluable partner that the EU cannot break away from. The thesis provides a deeper understanding of the main structural point of this relationship and the ambiguous nature and dynamics of identities in foreign policy discourses in a new, high-stake empirical context.