Michael joined the Department of European and International Studies in February 2022. His research focuses on how the myth of exceptionalism has been used by supranational EU elites to legitimise the EU in times of ‘crisis’.

Michael holds a BA in Politics and International Relations (2020), and an MA in Public Policy (2021) from the University of Warwick.

Research interests

• Political myths and narratives
• Discursive legitimation in EU politics
• European integration
• EU foreign policy
• Crisis politics

PhD research

My research looks at how the myth of exceptionalism has been used by supranational EU elite actors to legitimise the EU in times of ‘crisis’. To address this puzzle, I conduct a discourse analysis of offical speaches of supranational EU elites during three ‘crises’: the Eurozone crisis, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Russian War in Ukraine. In doing so, develops an original conceptualisation of the 'myth of EU-ropean exceptionalism’. In doing so, this study will develop its own original conceptualisation of the 'myth of EU-ropean exceptionalism’, drawing from existing literature on political myths in EU politics and society. My research seeks to demonstrate that EU elites have been able to continuously adapt and draw from different aspects of the EU’s myth of exceptionalism in order to make sense of and provide meaning to successive crises. Furthermore, the myth of exceptionalism is used extensively in each crisis to legitimise both the EU's policy response and the continued existence of the European project as a whole. More broadly, my research seeks to emphasise the central role that the myth of exceptionalism plays in EU politics and highlight that this myth is one of the most powerful myths in world politics.

Supervisors

Dr Russell Foster and Dr Benedetta Voltolini

Teaching

5AAOB201: The Integration of the European Union