The Discursive Construction of Neoliberalism: The EU and the Contested Substance of European Economic Space.

This paper takes issue with the claim that European economic integration necessarily induces neoliberal outcomes. Using an approach that treats economic spaces as socio-discursive constructions, it shows that the character, meaning and personality of the ‘European economy’ continue to be contested within the EU institutions and amongst the component member state political economies. Although the analysis suggests that there is considerable space for the articulation of alternative ‘solidaristic’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘moral’ versions of the European economy within alternative conceptions of globalisation, the paper seeks to show how rationalities (technical and normative; internal and external) associated with neoliberal versions of Europe might become normalised and increasingly difficult to negotiate. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]