ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the historical and intellectual development of discourse analytical approaches to European Union (EU) studies by connecting them to their wider intellectual traditions. As with the theoretical commitments, poststructuralist scholarship has enriched EU studies through two main contributions. One concerns the reflection on traditional theoretical dichotomies, such as those between ideas and interests; the material and the linguistic and agency and structure and their conflation into the general field of discursivity. The second concerns the study of identity and the third the process by which identity formation constantly shapes up through processes of othering. Undoubtedly, the aim of poststructuralist theorization is one of the criticising not one of the solving problems “for someone and for some purpose”. Nonetheless, discourse analysis has much to offer to stem the drifts of current political discussions in and about Europe. Semantic struggles are dramatically shaping the future of the EU and the European continent.
