Uncovering Power Dynamics: Feeling Rules in European Policy‐making

Rosa Sanchez Salgado

Journal of Common Market Studies, 2023, vol. 61, issue 2, 526-544

Abstract: While feeling rules have been found to be highly relevant in social research and international relations, little is known about their role in European policy‐making. This article explores how emotions have been understood by Commission and Council officials and by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) across policy areas over a long time period (1999–2014). Qualitative content analysis reveals the existence of feeling rules and that the appropriateness of emotions has been contested. Many policy‐makers, placing emotions in opposition to rationality, have claimed that policy‐making should be devoid of emotions, especially in policy areas such as public health, energy, and the environment. In contrast, in policy areas such as foreign policy and home affairs, emotions are often considered to be appropriate. This article also reflects on the role of feeling rules in constraining and enabling the policy process, uncovering subtle power dynamics. Data analysed include the European Parliament (EP) database (1999–2014) and the EUSpeech database (2007–2015).

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13387

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:61:y:2023:i:2:p:526-544

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0021-9886

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Common Market Studies is currently edited by Jim Rollo and Daniel Wincott

More articles in Journal of Common Market Studies from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().