The Appeal of a European Republic – Citizen’s Emotional and Linguistic Perception of a Paradigm Change

When in 2016 Ulrike Guérot’s book on a prospective European Republic was published, various reactions from enthusiasm to harsh critiques have been the answer. Our contribution focuses on a citizen’s perspective regarding the European Republic, by asking for associations towards this concept. This study examines the linguistic and emotional connotations of the “attitude object” “European Republic” by means of a large-scale survey among European citizens, and evaluates the approval of possible attributes like prosperity, security and equal rights etc. We use a semantic differential, consisting of several pairs of adjectives to measure perceptions of citizens towards the notion of a European Republic. This instrument tries to capture attitudes by a three-dimensional model including power, activity and evaluation as main dimensions. Even more metaphorical meanings are central when designing a semantic differential. Hence, this procedure is useful in examining the full emotional and linguistic content of a subject through a quantitative analysis. This study has been carried out in cooperation with the Institute of German Studies, University of Münster. Consequently the questionnaire has been developed in an interdisciplinary manner and combines linguistic as well as sociological approaches to this issue. The Online survey has been translated into 15 languages and spread all over Europe. While it has not been aimed to create a representative sample, our respondents cover somehow a so-called European “Civil Society” by including youth organizations, trade unions, think-tanks, NPOs, church-related institutions and economic institutions. It can be hypothesized that these institutions can serve as multipliers in public discourse or even as opinion leaders when it comes to induce social and political change. Preliminary results point to an overall positive evaluation towards the intended paradigm change from the European Union to a European Republic.