Fiona Nicolson

Fiona Nicolson has just completed a Masters of International Relations at Macquarie University. As part of her studies she wrote a thesis on “The causes of euroscepticism in the political parties and amongst the people in the member states of the European Union".

The thesis investigates the role of elite discourses in politics and in the press, as providers of explanations and interpretations of EU policies and actions, and facilitators of both positive and eurosceptic attitudes in the general public.

These discourses are specific to each member state and therefore they are determined according to the agendas of the domestic elite groups. Opinions of the people are formulated in response to their daily experience of EU policies and the integration process, however in the absence of a direct and communicative discourse from the EU, the power of the local discourse is considerable in explaining and contextualising peoples’ life experiences.

The thesis explores the reasons that economic realities, national politics, and the actions of the EU itself construct eurosceptic attitudes within the European public and their political representatives, particularly in Britain and the Central and Eastern European countries.

Fiona would like to follow up this research by investigating how the European Union could develop a more inclusive and communicative discourse with its citizens.

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