Overlapping and evolving European discourses on market liberalization

Abstract

This introduction to the special section on European liberal discourses Presents key assumptions discussed in the collection of articles, such as liberalism as a discourse and the conceptualization of discourses as networks. Offers an original typology of liberal discourses regarding State intervention. Introduces two models linking discursive interactions to discursive change, analogous to the operational code approach and to schema theory in cognitive science. Presents original data on DG Trade discourse, to illustrate simultaneous change and continuity. This introduction to the special section on European liberal discourses discusses three themes covered by all contributions: (i) the co-existence of several market liberal discourses in the European public sphere; (ii) interactions among these various discourses; (iii) and discursive changes resulting from these interactions.