Constructing Multilevel Legitimacy in the European Union: A Study of British and German Media Discourse

Abstract: While normative debates about the legitimacy of the European Union (EU) have reached a high level of sophistication, we know considerably less about the Union's legitimacy in an empirical sense, that is, about the ways in which its institutions are assessed in the population. This article argues that the survey-oriented methods commonly used to study such assessments have a number of deficiencies, and that they should therefore be complemented by research that focuses on political communication. One advantage of this approach is that it can better map constructions of multilevel legitimacy: assessments that establish linkages between the legitimacy of the EU and that of its member states. This article demonstrates the utility of this approach by examining media debates in Great Britain and Germany. It sheds new light on the construction of legitimating and delegitimating assessments of EU institutions, on the criteria used in them, as well as on the ways in which evaluations of the EU are related to evaluations of its member states.