Uncovering Power Dynamics? Emotion Frames and Feeling Rules in European Policy-Making

This article analyzes emotion rules and framing in the European Union (EU) with a specific focus on the European Parliament (EP) and the European Commission (EC). While emotion frames and feeling rules –studied within the discipline of sociology of emotions- has been found to be highly relevant within business organizations little is known about their eventual role in political organizations. This article shows that a meta-discussion on the role of emotions takes place within European institutions and that there is great variation per key player and per policy area. When the attention was shift to the policy areas where emotions were the most present, such as Foreign and security policy, Justice and Home affairs and Environment and Public health feeling rules and framing effects were identified. Data analyzed include the EP database (1999-2014) and the EUSpeech database (2007-2015).