Constructing an "Emotional Community" in Times of Crisis: EU’s Response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022

How are emotions used in the EU’s response to international crises arising from norm violations? In order to answer this question, the article empirically focuses on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and theoretically, it draws on the sociology of emotions literature. The article argues that EU institutional actors use emotions to construct an ‘emotional community’ through their discourses during major crises. More specifically, the article reveals that emotions matter in the EU’s crisis response in three ways: First, emotions serve to construct and endure a community of values. Second, emotions frame policy options for determining the EU’s reaction to the crisis. Third, emotions construct emotional boundaries between European emotional community (norm followers/the EU) and norm contestants at the international level. By applying ‘emotional community’ concept to a new territory, i.e., the EU, the article aims to broaden our understanding of the EU’s international identity construction in times of crisis.