This book seeks to develop Rhetoric as a field of knowledge in an important new direction, European Union politics. By fusing rhetorical and sociological approaches, political thought and culture, the book contributes to the analysis of the ‘political’ as a way of thinking and judging the political aspect of any phenomena.

1. Introduction.- 2. The Political Bricolage of EU Theories.- 3. National Politics and Transnational Feminisms in Early Twentieth-Century Europe: Perspectives from the Francophone Sphere.- 4. Saving European Democracy: British Debates on European Unifications in 1948-49.- 5. Between Conceptual Innovation and 'There is No Alternative': Conceptual Politics in Building the EU as a Polity.- 6. The Colonialism of Partisanship: Politics of National Interest and the National Science Foundation in the U.S. Congressional Debates.- 7. Mapping Postmodern Patterns of Political Agency and Rhetoric: Established Politics Facing Bricolage.- 8. Politics at Distance: Parliamentary Politics in the Face of New Challenges.

This book seeks to develop Rhetoric as a field of knowledge in an important new direction, European Union politics. The authors analyse what could be called a “European style of politics”: textual strategies and rhetorical styles evolving within and around the EU’s supranational and national institutions. By fusing rhetorical and sociological approaches, political thought and culture, the book contributes to the analysis of the ‘political’ as a way of thinking and judging the political aspect of any phenomena. 

Niilo Kauppi is Research Professor at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Strasbourg, France.

Kari Palonen is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

“By extrapolating Lévi-Strauss’s multi-layered concept of bricolage, the contributors to this volume shed new light on practices of political and historical thinking across time and space in the EU and beyond. Highly recommended to all those who have grappled with how to make sense of the interface of merging and diverging political values, actions and discourses enacted in a range of networked institutions and environments.”  (Cornelia Ilie, Strömstad Academy, Sweden)

“The volume offers an innovative and much needed new lens through which to assess and appreciate the nature and evolution of the European Union (and beyond). By welding the innovative use of concepts to the analysis of political action—what is called ‘conceptual politics’—the volume shows how political actors engage in conceptual and institutional bricolage that opens up new spaces and worlds of possibilities beyond what mainstream EU theories would allow us to see and imagine.” (Simona Piattoni, University of Trento, Italy)

“This collection of distinguished contributions shows how political concepts tend to be ‘bricolé’ (cobbled together), especially in the context of deepening European integration. The volume makes a crucial contribution to the analysis of the circulation of concepts between academic and political spheres.” (Olivier Rozenberg, Sciences Po, Paris)

Focuses on normal, informal political language in the discourse on European and EU politics Examines the indeterminacy and flexibility of what is termed ‘rhetorical action’ in the realm of high politics Contains both theoretical insight and illustrative, self-standing case studies

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