François Foret – författare

This book examines the legitimization of the European Union through the development and rapid rotation of narratives aiming to convey its identity and purpose.

Utilizing literature and data across a wide range of interdisciplinary areas rarely studied together, the book argues that three narratives have been dominant over the last 20 years: ‘Europe of rights’, ‘Europe of values’ and a ‘European way of life’. It presents both theoretical and empirical research on the transformation of political domination, collective identities and EU legitimization, and analyses various ''crises'' linked to socio-economic, security, identity and normative issues, such as terrorism and radicalization, pandemics, and morality politics. It finds that European narratives express lower ambitions on charismatic community-building, are constantly expanding to new domains, and are increasingly framed as being in a situation of existential threat, which may increase democratic tensions and give rise to a populist backlash.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European integration, European Parliament, legitimization studies, political communication, and to comparative politics and political sociology.

This book examines the legitimization of the European Union through the development and rapid rotation of narratives aiming to convey its identity and purpose.

Utilizing literature and data across a wide range of interdisciplinary areas rarely studied together, the book argues that three narratives have been dominant over the last 20 years: ‘Europe of rights’, ‘Europe of values’ and a ‘European way of life’. It presents both theoretical and empirical research on the transformation of political domination, collective identities and EU legitimization, and analyses various ''crises'' linked to socio-economic, security, identity and normative issues, such as terrorism and radicalization, pandemics, and morality politics. It finds that European narratives express lower ambitions on charismatic community-building, are constantly expanding to new domains, and are increasingly framed as being in a situation of existential threat, which may increase democratic tensions and give rise to a populist backlash.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European integration, European Parliament, legitimization studies, political communication, and to comparative politics and political sociology.

This book explores what the European Union (EU) does to religion and what religion does to the EU. Europe is secularising, and meanwhile struggling with a renewed salience of religion as a political and cultural resource instrumentalised for various purposes. The EU as a whole, and especially the European Parliament as the representative body reflecting the diversity and conflicts of national societies, face this challenge in their everyday functioning.

This book presents the second wave of an unprecedented survey studying what members of the European Parliament (MEPs) believe, and what they do with these beliefs. Research questions include: Are European elites more secularised than EU citizens and national politicians? What is the impact of religion on the political socialisation of MEPs and, conversely, what is the influence of MEPs on religion? How do religion, coalition- and decision-making interact at the European level? What happens in the triangular relationship between nation, Europe, and religion?

Contributions from leading researchers in the field shed light on the shifting effects of religion on attitudes towards European integration, on voting and party dynamics, and on interactions between major transformations such as secularisation, Europeanisation and politicization. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European integration, the European Parliament, politics and religion, comparative politics and political sociology.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Religion, State and Society.

This book explores what the European Union (EU) does to religion and what religion does to the EU. Europe is secularising, and meanwhile struggling with a renewed salience of religion as a political and cultural resource instrumentalised for various purposes. The EU as a whole, and especially the European Parliament as the representative body reflecting the diversity and conflicts of national societies, face this challenge in their everyday functioning.

This book presents the second wave of an unprecedented survey studying what members of the European Parliament (MEPs) believe, and what they do with these beliefs. Research questions include: Are European elites more secularised than EU citizens and national politicians? What is the impact of religion on the political socialisation of MEPs and, conversely, what is the influence of MEPs on religion? How do religion, coalition- and decision-making interact at the European level? What happens in the triangular relationship between nation, Europe, and religion?

Contributions from leading researchers in the field shed light on the shifting effects of religion on attitudes towards European integration, on voting and party dynamics, and on interactions between major transformations such as secularisation, Europeanisation and politicization. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European integration, the European Parliament, politics and religion, comparative politics and political sociology.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Religion, State and Society.

This book presents the findings of the first ever survey of the religious preferences of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). An international research team interviewed a large sample of MEPs, with the purpose of investigating their beliefs and how these beliefs have an impact on their role as MEPs.

The findings of this survey are offered in order to discuss, in a non-normative way, some key political and intellectual debates. Is Europe secularized? Is the European Union a Christian club? What is the influence of religious lobbying in Brussels? What are the dynamics of value politics? Contributions also compare MEPs with national MPs and citizens to measure whether the findings are specific to the supranational arena and European multi-level governance. External cases, such as the USA and Israel, are also presented to define whether there is a European exceptionalism regarding the role of religion in the political arena.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Religion, State & Society.