Europe According to English Wikipedia: Open-sourcing the Discourse on Europe (II)
Europe According to English Wikipedia: Open-sourcing the Discourse on Europe (II)

Summary/Abstract: The primary goal of this research was to examine the nature and development of the discourse on Europe in English Wikipedia by utilizing Foucauldian discourse analysis (Methodology is explained in the first part of this research, published in the same issue of the CASCA journal.). The study found that the discourse on Europe in English Wikipedia, rather than being an aggregation of public opinion, unfolds according to its own internal rules and principles, which have often led participants in the writing process to reach conclusions that could be hardly attributed to the public opinion. In this still ongoing discourse, Europe has, over time, come to be seen as a single geographical and cultural entity. Therefore, this discourse, willingly or not, provides a cultural legitimation for political integrative processes. Still, by treating both the European Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States as more or less equal, it shows that current political projects in Europe do not match the reality of the continent, as it is perceived by Wikipedia, since they divide in parts what is seen as a unified whole.

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