The European Investment Bank: A Foucauldian Inspired Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the European Investment Bank. The European Investment Bank is the biggest multilateral lender in the world, albeit it has been a neglected institution to date. Hence, the focus in this study lies on examining how the European Investment Bank conceives of its role in development, in order to understand what the European Investment Bank is. Methodology: The research departs in social science, more specifically poststructuralism. The research design is based on a key case study, conducted with an abductive logic of inquiry. As such, the European Investment Bank is investigated through a reflective research approach, where data, method, and theory unfold in interaction with each other. Michel Foucault’s genealogical method of research, which is applied in this study, supports a reflective research, while allowing for a critical examination. Based on a document-analysis, this research is thus orchestrated in an interpretive dance, where text-documents are understood in a critical, genealogical reading, informed by Foucault’s analytics of power/knowledge. Theory: The research is conducted under a specific theoretical framework, which rests on a logic developed by Foucault. The logic underlying Foucault’s concept of power/knowledge prescribes that a discourse produces realities and subjects in a certain legitimate way. Thus, Foucault’s concept of power/knowledge allows for an investigation of how the European Investment Bank is discursively constructed in its development discourse. Findings: The discourse analysis revealed that the European Investment Bank has no stable identity, but that the development institution must be understood in the history-specific discourse on which it depends. However, ever since its establishment in 1958, the European Investment Bank has claimed an expert role in development. In this way, the European Investment Bank has yet retained a somewhat stable character of being a development bank; even though this character has proven not to be fixed. Practical implications: The European Investment Bank is a unique institution, but not a unique case in the field of multilateral development banks. Rather, the case of the European Investment Bank 3 depicts a pattern in the research field. Generally, multilateral development banks are an under-studied field, which is why they remain poorly understood. Researchers have been encouraged to study these institutions in their own respect, in order to gain an understanding of these rather complex development institutions. On the basis of this study, however, I argue that it is not sufficient to examine these institutions in their own respect. Besides, researchers should understand them in the history-specific context on which their role depends.