The British Self and Continental Other A Discourse Analysis of the United Kingdom’s Relationship with Europe John Todd ARENA Report No 1/15 The British Self and Continental Other A Discourse Analysis of the United Kingdom’s Relationship with Europe John Todd Copyright © ARENA and the author ISBN (print) 978-82-93137-47-4 ISBN (online) 978-82-93137-97-9 ARENA Report Series (print) | ISSN 0807-3139 ARENA Report Series (online) | ISSN 1504-8152 Printed at ARENA Centre for European Studies University of Oslo P.O. Box 1143, Blindern N-0318 Oslo, Norway Tel: + 47 22 85 87 00 Fax: + 47 22 85 87 10 E-mail:
[email protected] http://www.arena.uio.no Oslo, March 2015 Cover picture: Illustration “British Self and Continental Other” created by John Todd. The work is a derivative of “Flag Map of European Union” (Wikimedia Commons, licence CC-BY-SA-3.0). Abstract This report analyses how the British discourse on Europe has evolved over the past forty years. Prime Minister David Cameron’s commitment to hold a referendum on European Union membership in 2017, should his part win the next general election, was a major political milestone. The report therefore examines the changes and continuities in this discourse over three key periods: the 1975 referendum on the UK’s continued membership of the European Economic Community, the 1992-3 debates on ratification of the Maastricht Treaty and the 2013 proto-referendum debates. Using a poststructuralist discourse-analytical approach, I analyse how political and media voices seek to delineate a British sense of self from a Continental other.