ePrints

A Europe of multiple flows: Contested discursive integration in trans-European transport infrastructure policy-making

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Diego Garcia MejutoORCiD

Downloads

• Accepted version [.pdf]

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Abstract

This paper presents an examination of the extent to which discursive integration is accompanying the European integration process, by focusing on the development of trans-European transport infrastructure networks. Because they facilitate movement across nation-state borders, these networks are central to European integration and have in fact constituted a key EU policy issue for more than two decades. Some authors have argued that their development has been driven by a hegemonic discourse that promotes the production of a ‘Europe of Flows’: a single, uniform space underpinned by a vision of ‘frictionless’ mobility through inter-city networks. However, the existence of such a discourse is questionable given the variety of rationales that may potentially influence the development of this type of infrastructure. Their claim is evaluated by means of an in-depth empirical study of the policy process surrounding a high-speed rail line of EU relevance in the Spanish region of the Basque Country. The analysis of the discursive constructions mobilized in this process indicates that the discourse on a ‘Europe of Flows’ is better conceptualized as one of the several storylines associated with different scales through which a wider hegemonic discourse is articulated. Whilst the heterogeneity of this discourse did not fundamentally contradict the development of a trans-European high-speed rail line, it did result in a policy compromise according to the influence the different coalitions were able to exert in the policy process. The analysis largely demonstrates the importance of considering the multi-scalar discursive landscape of policy-making in order to understand trans-European infrastructure development.

Publication metadata

Author(s): García Mejuto D

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: European Urban and Regional Studies

Year: 2017

Volume: 24

Issue: 4

Pages: 425-441

Print publication date: 01/10/2017

Online publication date: 23/09/2016

Acceptance date: 19/07/2016

Date deposited: 05/10/2016

ISSN (print): 0969-7764

ISSN (electronic): 1461-7145

Publisher: Sage

URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/0969776416663809

DOI: 10.1177/0969776416663809

Altmetrics

Share