Mémoire
| Résumé : | Since its institutionalization in the 1950’s, the growth imperative found in the capitalist narrative became the main objective of the European Union (EU). However, such objectives have proven to imply negative ramifications for the planet as it faces physical limitations. Thence, heterodox narratives and more specifically the post-growth narrative emerged and slowly gained terrain in the academic sphere.This research aims to analyze the potential evolution of mainstream economic narrative resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Resultingly, a post-structuralist approach is mobilized to investigate the role of discourses in shaping narratives. Thus, using a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis methodology, the health crisis is regarded to examine whether it impacted the discourse within the institutional framework of the EU and its subsequent implications on the narrative.This inquiry evaluates the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the EU narrative by exploring a pre-pandemic timeframe (2018-2019) and what we consider as a post-pandemic timeframe (2021-2022). Coupled with literature analysis, two official European Commission’s communications and two conferences held in both the European Parliament and the European Commission will be mobilized.This literature review suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic – as a crisis – has a paramount function in discourse definition of the economic system. As it revealed the intensified shortcomings of the capitalist model accompanying the crisis, it has provided momentum for the post-growth narrative to gain terrain and challenge the dominant paradigm. However, the ramifications accompanying the health crisis did not, to this day, result in a paradigm shift from the capitalist ideology to the post-growth model. |
