Acceso usuarios
Noruega
In this article, I examine the European social contract as a political discourse. The concept has emerged as a catchybut politically-laden concept within EU politics during Europe's polycrisis period. It has been employed by practi-tioners, civil society actors and politicians, with each referring to different kinds of contracts and often mobilisingit for different political purposes. Here, I explore the economic, green, progressive and nationalist accounts of thesocial contract, and suggest that the social contract has proved to be an effective tool for political and social actorsto articulate their political visions concerning Europe. Whereas I analyse such discursive accounts of the social con-tract by resorting to the poststructural discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, I find inspiration inontological security studies in International Relations to unpack its affective dimension, namely, how it may serve tomanage and direct collective anxiety and fear through narratives of continuity, stability and renewal
