EUMOTIONS

EUMOTIONS 

The Role of Emotions in the European Union’s Foreign Policy.

How do emotions shape the EU’s foreign policy and its response to global crises? How is the EU emotionally perceived in non-EU countries and what are the implications of this for the EU’s international stance? How far EU policymakers’ emotional communications in foreign policy resonate with EU citizens on key issues, such as sanctions? How does the EU think, and what is the role of emotions in shaping its foreign policy decisions on critical issues such as the war or the EU’s enlargement policy? These questions lie at the heart of the EUMOTIONS project, which embraces the emotional pulse driving decisions in Brussels.

This Research project investigates the following three questions:

  1. How are the EU’s official emotions used to legitimize action in EU foreign policy during times of crisis? (emotions as justification for action or inaction)
  2. To what extent can emotions employed by EU actors influence public opinion of EU foreign actions? (emotions as influence)
  3. On-the-flip-side: How do third countries perceive the EU’s emotional displays and accompanying (in-)action? (emotions as strategy)

As part of the EUMOTIONS project, our case study that focuses on Russia’s Aggression against Ukraine has three core objectives:

Firstly, establishing a new framework of analysis for tracing how official emotions frame the EU’s (in-)action during crises and the implications of official emotional expressions at societal and international levels.

Secondly, the EUMOTIONS project will produce original datasets on emotions communicated by EU politicians, experienced by European publics, and on third countries’ perception of the EU’s crisis narrative and actions.

Thirdly, we seek to develop an in-depth comparative analysis of the employment of emotions and its implications across four levels (EU, member-state, citizens and international) through the application of our theoretical framework to several instances of foreign policy decisions during the war and other crisis moments in EU foreign policy.

Why are we doing this?

On the scientific side, we aim to contribute to the growing literature on emotions in International Relations and extend that focus to European foreign policy to understand how emotions triggered during times of crises affect the European Union (through its actions or inactions) and European citizens.

From a societal lens, times of crises tend to trigger emotional responses providing a fertile ground for manipulation by populist leaders within and around the EU. Through EUMOTIONS, we seek to raise awareness amongst policymakers and citizens about the implications of emotional language in framing policy options.