Det historiska narrativet om Visegradgruppen i uttalanden av politiska representanter för Polen, Slovakien, Tjeckien och Ungern 1990–2021
Author
Summary, in English
This thesis examines the historical narrative about the Visegrad Group expressed by its representatives in six texts from the period 1990–2021. This is based on the following three research questions:
What narrative about the common history of the Visegrad Group’s and its member countries’ common history has been constructed by political representatives for the Visegrad countries 1990–2021?
How has this narrative been used in official statements to attribute meanings to the Visegrad Group and its member countries in the European cooperation?
How has the narrative and the meanings changed between 1990–2021?
As a theoretical framework, this thesis applies postfunctionalism with influences from social constructivism to a context of subregional cooperation, specifically the Visegrad Group. A central theoretical concept is historical consciousness as it is formulated by the historian Klas-Göran Karlsson. Furthermore, I construct a model of three phases of the development of the Visegrad Group with the purpose of operationalizing the analysis of how the narrative has changed over time. For the analysis of the narrative, this thesis uses a combination of a content analysis and a narrative analysis. The content analysis partly serves as background for selecting relevant texts for the analysis and to construct relevant research questions.
This thesis suggests that most of the central aspects of the historical narrative are similar in most to all texts. Among these are the narrative of a shared historical and religious heritage between the Visegrad countries, the description of the time of the communist regimes as a negative, unifying experience and the narrative of what is described along the line of “return to Europe”. However, the meanings that get ascribed to the Visegrad Group as part of the European cooperation vary to a higher degree. The narrative has changed over time, mainly regarding these ascribed meanings.
What narrative about the common history of the Visegrad Group’s and its member countries’ common history has been constructed by political representatives for the Visegrad countries 1990–2021?
How has this narrative been used in official statements to attribute meanings to the Visegrad Group and its member countries in the European cooperation?
How has the narrative and the meanings changed between 1990–2021?
As a theoretical framework, this thesis applies postfunctionalism with influences from social constructivism to a context of subregional cooperation, specifically the Visegrad Group. A central theoretical concept is historical consciousness as it is formulated by the historian Klas-Göran Karlsson. Furthermore, I construct a model of three phases of the development of the Visegrad Group with the purpose of operationalizing the analysis of how the narrative has changed over time. For the analysis of the narrative, this thesis uses a combination of a content analysis and a narrative analysis. The content analysis partly serves as background for selecting relevant texts for the analysis and to construct relevant research questions.
This thesis suggests that most of the central aspects of the historical narrative are similar in most to all texts. Among these are the narrative of a shared historical and religious heritage between the Visegrad countries, the description of the time of the communist regimes as a negative, unifying experience and the narrative of what is described along the line of “return to Europe”. However, the meanings that get ascribed to the Visegrad Group as part of the European cooperation vary to a higher degree. The narrative has changed over time, mainly regarding these ascribed meanings.
Department/s
Publishing year
2021
Language
Swedish
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Document type
Student publication for Bachelor's degree
Topic
- History and Archaeology
- Cultural Sciences
Keywords
- historical narrative
- visegrad group
- European studies
- europastudier
- content analysis
Supervisor
- Tomas Sniegon