The production of electoral discourses as the configuration of European myths ; LA PRODUCTION DES DISCOURS ELECTORAUX COMME CONFIGURATION DES MYTHES POLITIQUES EUROPEENS ; The production of electoral discourses as the configuration of European myths: A comparative analysis of European, French and Cypriot mediated discourse for the European Parliament elections of 2009 ; LA PRODUCTION DES DISCOURS ELECTORAUX COMME CONFIGURATION DES MYTHES POLITIQUES EUROPEENS: Une analyse comparative des programmes électoraux européens, français et chypriotes pour les élections du Parlement européen de 2009.

The aim of this thesis is to question the prevailing idea that a "political Europe" does not exist. The electoral discourses are placed at the centre of this research, considered as the material traces of the Europe’s political essence. They enable the analysis of “the political” in its double dimension: cognitive and pragmatic. The first dimension is examined through the myths that these discourses construct, the second through the configuration of the production and circulations of the electoral discourse. The analysis of the dialogic relation between these two dimensions contributes to demystifying and unpacking the European public sphere. The findings are drawn from a comparative study of the mediated discourse of the parliamentary elections of 2009, taking into account different political parties and national contexts. On the one hand, these electoral discourse contain important similarities which reinforce the idea of a “technocratisation of politics”. On the other hand, the discourses also produce various and contradictory myths, according to party affiliation and to geopolitical and cultural origins. They produce situations of “dissensus”, a fundamental condition for the political. The conclusion is that political Europe does exist. However, this thesis goes beyond this statement and opens the discussion on the modalities of existence, production and re-contextualization of this political. It shows that the constructed myths can be and are articulated as part of the activities within the European Parliament, the status and origin of participants in the process of production of mediated.discourse These elements operate as catalysts for the production of political discourses. The results also highlight that the myths constructed at the European Union level do not circulate and are not recontextualised in the same way in all member-states: they depend on and are mediated via local issues and are embedded in the symbolic relations between the "grands" and the "petits" of Europe. ; Cette thèse doctorale se ...