The Narrative Continent: Discursive Recognition and the EU’s Technological Actorness

27.10.2025

Journal of Common Market Studies

Recognition in global politics is not only earned through institutions or capabilities; it is narrated into being. This article investigates how the European Union (EU) is framed as a technological actor in global discourse, focusing on the symbolic dynamics of discursive recognition. Defined as a performative process through which legitimacy and agency are constructed in elite narratives, recognition is examined here through a mixed-methods analysis of 148 Foreign Policy articles from January 2010 to March 2025. The paper introduces a two-dimensional typology that maps how the EU is positioned along axes of regulatory authority and innovation capability. Findings indicate a significant shift in narrative patterns: early portrayals emphasised the EU’s regulatory dominance but highlighted its technological shortfalls, whilst more recent discourse presents regulation as a competitive advantage and acknowledges the EU’s growing presence in emerging tech domains. Although the EU is not yet fully recognised as a technological superpower, its symbolic profile has become increasingly multifaceted and contested. The analysis underscores how, in fragmented governance environments, power is exercised not only through policies and platforms, but through stories that travel, making recognition a vital, relational resource in shaping global technological influence.

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