Politicisation: Towards a Multi-Level and Multi-Stage Concept

This paper aims at rethinking politicisation as a concept that has both theoretical and empirical understandings and usages. It outlines crucial questions and points that are related to the understanding and usage of politicisation as a theoretical and empirical concept in general and in the debate on the EU in particular. The goal is to sketch a multi-level and multi-stage concept of politicisation that may serve as an analytical framework for empirical analysis and that is based on three presumptions: a) politicisation needs to be understood as a multi-level concept that covers the theoretical and normative macro-level, a conceptual meso-level and an operational or empirical micro-level; b) some current usages and definitions of the concept have an implicit top-down focus in their analytical approach that leads to overlooking decisive factors; c), to theorise politics as an activity and politicisation as the act of naming something as political allows for a broader analytical focus on politicisation. In conclusion, the paper argues in favour of including bottom-up politicisation processes into a multi-stage and multi-level a model of analysis of politicisation.