The Rhetoric of Austerity; The Euro Crisis as a Lesson or a Frame?

When confronted with crisis, political elites across the Eurozone were forced to choose between defending the monster or leading the mob. Whatever their choice, it changed their macroeconomic narrative; they either reframed old ideas to fit the changing mood, or attempted to convince their public of a new-found ideology. Using Comparative Cognitive Mapping, this study describes ideational changes in political leaders' speeches over time. It will determine whether these changes constitute actual ideological shifts in the reasoning behind new goals and instruments of macroecomic policy, or function simply to re-frame and shore up previously held beliefs. In this way, this study aims to contribute to our understanding of ideational struggles among elites as an essential part of crisis resolution or an interest based framing contest.