This book examines the legitimization of the European Union through the development and rapid rotation of narratives aiming to convey its identity and purpose.

Utilizing literature and data across a wide range of interdisciplinary areas rarely studied together, the book argues that three narratives have been dominant over the last 20 years: ‘Europe of rights’, ‘Europe of values’ and a ‘European way of life’. It presents both theoretical and empirical research on the transformation of political domination, collective identities and EU legitimization, and analyses various 'crises' linked to socio-economic, security, identity and normative issues, such as terrorism and radicalization, pandemics, and morality politics. It finds that European narratives express lower ambitions on charismatic community-building, are constantly expanding to new domains, and are increasingly framed as being in a situation of existential threat, which may increase democratic tensions and give rise to a populist backlash.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European integration, European Parliament, legitimization studies, political communication, and to comparative politics and political sociology.