EU – a Caricature of an International Actor? How The Economist Imagines EU Actorness

Abstract

Constructivist attempts to focus on analysis of the European identity,
including the foreign policy dimension, rely almost exclusively on textual
and verbal discourse. But discourse as such is not limited to textual and
verbal acts; graphics and visuals, including political caricatures, constitute
an integral component of discourse as well. The aim of this contribution is
to analyse how the European Union’s identity as an actor of
international relations could be imagined by studying a sample of
political cartoons from The Economist. Based on the analysis, I conclude
that although the European Union is not imagined as an antithesis to a
standard international actor, The Economist still imagines it as a player that
is not entirely equal to other players.