The European Social Contract—A Discursive Tool to Imagine Europe and Manage Existential Anxieties

ABSTRACT In this article, I examine the European social contract as a political discourse. The concept has emerged as a catchy but politically‐laden concept within EU politics during Europe's polycrisis period. It has been employed by practitioners, civil society actors and politicians, with each referring to different kinds of contracts and often mobilising it for different political purposes. Here, I explore the economic, green, progressive and nationalist accounts of the social contract, and suggest that the social contract has proved to be an effective tool for political and social actors to articulate their political visions concerning Europe. Whereas I analyse such discursive accounts of the social contract by resorting to the poststructural discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, I find inspiration in ontological security studies in International Relations to unpack its affective dimension, namely, how it may serve to manage and direct collective anxiety and fear through narratives of continuity, stability and renewal.