![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
Abstract
Policy framing research addresses the role of political issue definitions in the policy-making process. This research article first offers an introduction to this field and argues that the policy framing perspective has particular relevance for the study of the EU. A review of recent studies of EU policy framing discusses how the framing of issues on the EU agenda structures political conflict and competition at the European level, and it shows how this literature provides a unique research perspective on a political system characterized by competing constituencies and contested competencies. Focusing more broadly on how policy framing influences the political construction of interests in the EU, the article finally asks how the study of policy framing can contribute to our understanding of the nature of EU politicization.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Berthold Rittberger, Ursula Schröder and an anonymous reviewer for their detailed and helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. Adrienne Héritier and Frank Baumgartner provided invaluable feedback on more than one occasion.
Notes
1. This definition of framing is based on central contributions to the concept of framing (see e.g. Jones Citation2001: 105; Entman Citation1993: 52; Rein and Schön Citation1991: 263; Gamson Citation1989: 157; Weiss Citation1989: 118). Frequently, framing is defined more broadly so as to encompass otherwise distinct concepts such as ‘schema’ or ‘narrative’ (e.g. Rein and Schön Citation1996). In other cases, in particular in the social movement or collective action literature on framing, the use of the concept is strongly shaped by the specific empirical research context in which it is employed (see Benford and Snow Citation2000).
2. The terms ‘political problem definition’ and ‘political issue definition’ are used interchangeably throughout this article and in most of the literature. Preference is given to the term ‘issue definition’, however, since it allows us to draw the distinction between those political issues that are defined as problems and those that are not.
3. See Mazey and Richardson Citation(1993) for a similar argument from an EU lobbying perspective and Guiraudon Citation(2000) for an additional example from the area of EU migration policy.
4. See, for instance, the studies by Lenschow and Zito Citation(1998) as well as Dudley and Richardson Citation(1999).