The EU as an agent for democracy: Images of the EU in the Pacific media ‘mirror’

The Pacific is a major recipient of EU assistance under the Cotonou Agreement and target for EU development actions (including the reinforcement of democracy and human rights).

Positioning its inquiry within the diffusion theory, this study focuses on one of the Union’s ‘normative’ profiles communicated externally, namely the EU’s international performance as a promoter of democracy, rule of law and human rights.

This paper considers a particular case study, namely the EU’s metaphorical imagery in media discourses in Fiji, a South Pacific state experiencing an ongoing democratic crisis. These external media framings of the EU are then compared with the auto-images the Union has about itself when interacting with the Pacific. The conclusions indicated a mismatch in external and internal EU imagery potentially ripe with miscommunication and counterproductive for EU–Pacific relations in general (and EU–Fiji relations in particular).