Identity as the "art of government"- A critical study of the governmentalities expressed in the EU Energy Strategy 2020

Abstract: The concept of governmentality and the concept of banal nationalism are applied in the study to critically analyze how a European identity is articulated and legitimized within the energy policy presented by the European Commission. Furthermore, the articulated identity is related to the construction of insecurity. In the analyzed material the identity of the EU is portrayed as an effective and integrated internal market. Member states with a foremost national market and outdated infrastructure are presented as less European, and are, along with agents in the international energy market, presented as “the other” and portrayed as a threat towards the European energy security and the EU. The rationality implicit in the analyzed material imply that the EU is an agent separated from its members and furthermore, that the EU could address the objective needs of its members, and hence also identify threats towards the energy security.