Trial Lecture
Place: Auditorium 2, Eilert Sundts Hus
Time: 9.15-10.00
Title: The relevance and challenges of computational text analysis approaches for EU studies/social sciences
Public defense
Place: Auditorium 2, Eilert Sundts Hus
Time: 10:30-13:00
Adjudication committee
- Research Associate Professor Virginie van Ingelgolm, Faculty of Economy, Social and Political Sciences and Communication, UCLouvain, Belgium
- Professor Hajo Boogaarden, Department of Communication, University of Vienna
- Professor Bjørn Schiermer Andersen, Department of Sociology and Human Geography, UiO
Chair of defense
Supervisors
- Senior Researcher Asimina Michailidou, ARENA, UiO
- Professor Cathrine Holst, Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, UiO
Additional information
See also the event page by the Department of Sociology and Human Geography.
Abstract
This thesis investigates the EU’s legitimacy changes preceding Brexit from 2004
to 2016. Scholars have identified legitimacy deficits and crises within the EU since
the 1990s. Against this backdrop, Brexit can be interpreted as a symptom of a
deeper EU legitimacy crisis. The thesis investigates the changes in EU legitimacy
during the period from 2004 to 2016. During this period, the EU has undergone
two crises that have impacted its central arrangements: the Economic and
Monetary Union (EMU) and the Schengen area of unrestricted movement. By
concentrating on the specified timeframe, the thesis documents the legitimization
changes that occurred during each crisis and have fundamentally altered the
EU’s material context. The study examines shifts in legitimation and critique
within the UK public sphere using computer-assisted quantitative text analysis
(supervised machine-learning) and qualitative discourse analysis. The findings
suggest that the EU’s institutional design has led to recurrent legitimation
problems and a legitimation crisis. However, it is unlikely that the EU has
experienced a severe legitimacy crisis in the period. The key implication of these
findings is that unless an empirical connection between legitimacy changes and
institutional changes is established, the role legitimacy plays in (de)stabilizing
the institution should be considered uncertain.