IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v61y2023i1p3-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Hegemonic Politics of ‘Strategic Autonomy’ and ‘Resilience’: COVID‐19 and the Dislocation of EU Trade Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Jacobs
  • Niels Gheyle
  • Ferdi De Ville
  • Jan Orbie

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID‐19 in March 2020 led to substantial upheaval in the EU's trade policy. Over the course of a year, EU Trade Policy as a field witnessed the launch of hitherto unthinkable ideas; the proliferation of a range of new buzzwords such as resilience, autonomy, and reshoring; and ultimately the arrival of a new consensus in the Trade Policy Review of February 2021. This article uses a discourse‐theoretical approach (PDT) to retrace the political process that unfolded throughout this year, from the start of the COVID‐19 crisis, to a fundamental dislocation of EU trade politics, and ultimately to the consolidation of a partial, temporary, and frail new hegemony within the policy field. Our goal is to explain the trajectory and the dynamics of this process by studying the discourses, the framings, and the political strategies that comprised the hegemonic struggle underlying it.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Jacobs & Niels Gheyle & Ferdi De Ville & Jan Orbie, 2023. "The Hegemonic Politics of ‘Strategic Autonomy’ and ‘Resilience’: COVID‐19 and the Dislocation of EU Trade Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 3-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:61:y:2023:i:1:p:3-19
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.13348
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13348
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jcms.13348?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lachlan Mckenzie & Katharina L. Meissner, 2017. "Human Rights Conditionality in European Union Trade Negotiations: the Case of the EU–Singapore FTA," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 832-849, July.
    2. Sophie Meunier & Kalypso Nicolaidis, 2019. "The Geopoliticization of European Trade and Investment Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(S1), pages 103-113, September.
    3. Amandine Crespy, 2014. "A dialogue of the deaf? Conflicting discourses over the EU and services liberalisation in the WTO," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/168510, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Cornelia Woll, 2008. "Firm Interests: How Governments Shape Business Lobbying on Global Trade," Post-Print hal-02183956, HAL.
    5. Jonathan Joseph & Ana E. Juncos, 2019. "Resilience as an Emergent European Project? The EU's Place in the Resilience Turn," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 995-1011, September.
    6. Niels Gheyle & Ferdi De Ville, 2017. "How Much Is Enough? Explaining the Continuous Transparency Conflict in TTIP," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(3), pages 16-28.
    7. Cornelia Woll, 2008. "Firm Interests: How Governments Shape Business Lobbying on Global Trade," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-02183956, HAL.
    8. Patricia Garcia-Duran & Leif Johan Eliasson & Oriol Costa, 2020. "Managed Globalization 2.0: The European Commission’s Response to Trade Politicization," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 290-300.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Postigo, Antonio, 2016. "Institutional spillovers from the negotiation and formulation of East Asian free trade agreements: Government-business relations in the policymaking of bilateral free trade agreements," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 23(3), pages 379-417.
    2. Elize M. da Fonseca & Holly Jarman & Elizabeth J. King & Scott L. Greer, 2022. "Perspectives in the study of the political economy of COVID‐19 vaccine regulation," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), pages 1283-1289, October.
    3. L. Johan Eliasson & Patricia Garcia‐Duran, 2023. "New is old? The EU's Open, Sustainable and Assertive Trade Policy," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(S3), pages 9-18, July.
    4. Emil Kirchner, 2024. "Geo-economic and geopolitical developments in EU-asia security relations," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 333-349, September.
    5. Ben Clift, 2012. "Comparative Capitalisms, Ideational Political Economy and French Post- Dirigiste Responses to the Global Financial Crisis," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 565-590, November.
    6. Rawi Abdelal, 2013. "The profits of power: Commerce and realpolitik in Eurasia," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 421-456, June.
    7. Kai Jäger, 2013. "Sources of Franco-German corporate support for the euro: The effects of business network centrality and political connections," European Union Politics, , vol. 14(1), pages 115-139, March.
    8. Kai Jäger, 2017. "Studies on Issues in Political Economy since the Global Financial Crisis," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 71.
    9. Christine Hackenesch & Julian Bergmann & Jan Orbie, 2021. "Development Policy under Fire? The Politicization of European External Relations," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 3-19, January.
    10. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/f5vtl5h9a73d5ls976m3igpqi is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Caroline Dufy, 2015. "Redefining Business Values in Russia: The Boundaries of Globalisation and Patriotism in Contemporary Russian Industry," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 67(1), pages 84-101, January.
    12. Christine Neuhold & Andreea Năstase, 2017. "Transparency Watchdog: Guarding the Law and Independent from Politics? The Relationship between the European Ombudsman and the European Parliament," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(3), pages 40-50.
    13. Vigjilenca Abazi & Johan Adriaensen, 2017. "EU Institutional Politics of Secrecy and Transparency in Foreign Affairs," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(3), pages 1-5.
    14. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/f5vtl5h9a73d5ls976m3igpqi is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Cornelia Woll & Sophie Jacquot, 2010. "Using Europe: Strategic Action in Multi-Level Politics," Post-Print hal-01023857, HAL.
    16. Regina M. Abrami & Yu Zheng, 2010. "The New Face of Chinese Industrial Policy: Making Sense of Anti-Dumping Cases in the Petrochemical and Steel Industries," Harvard Business School Working Papers 11-042, Harvard Business School.
    17. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/f5vtl5h9a73d5ls976m1ga289 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Axel Marx & Guillaume Van der Loo, 2021. "Transparency in EU Trade Policy: A Comprehensive Assessment of Current Achievements," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 261-271.
    19. Seeliger, Martin, 2017. "Die soziale Konstruktion organisierter Interessen: Gewerkschaftliche Positionsbildung auf europäischer Ebene," Schriften aus dem Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, volume 89, number 89.
    20. Guri Rosén & Anne Elizabeth Stie, 2017. "Not Worth the Net Worth? The Democratic Dilemmas of Privileged Access to Information," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(3), pages 51-61.
    21. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09hae2n8o0n is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Benjamin Bürbaumer, 2021. "The Limits of Traditional Bargaining under Deep Integration: TTIP Stumbling over Technical Barriers to Trade," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1069-1085, September.
    23. Camille Nessel & Elke Verhaeghe, 2022. "‘A Force for Good’: The Narrative Construction of Ethical EU–Vietnam Trade Relations," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 741-758, May.
    24. Postigo, Antonio, 2016. "Institutional spillovers from the negotiation and formulation of East Asian free trade agreements: government-business relations in the policymaking of bilateral free trade agreements," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115088, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:61:y:2023:i:1:p:3-19. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.