EMU, political discourse and the fifth French republic: Historical institutionalism, path dependency and ‘craftsmen’ of discourse

Abstract

This article examines continuity and change in the way in which French élites have deliberated on and legitimated their policy actions at the European level in relation to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) during the Fifth Republic. Six themes are highlighted: the way in which institutional arrangements have conferred power on some actors while reducing the power of others; the complex role of ideas as independent variables ('cognitive filters') and intervening variables (building blocks) through which strategic conduct is conceptualised and assessed; the way in which EMU came to be defined and how it connected with other issues; how its historical development took the form of a distinctive national ‘path’ or ‘trajectory’ ; how that development was punctuated by ‘critical moments’ or ‘junctures’, defined in turn by crisis and the uncertainty generated, when discourse was restructured and took a new path; and the role of ‘craftsmen’ of discourse in negotiating meanings.