1. Introduction // 2. Methodology // 2.1 Discourse Analysis the Dominating Approaches and their Shortcomings // 2.2 Approaching Discourse Grounded Theory and the Problem of Induction // 2.3 The applied method // 3. The Question of European Unity in the Czech Republic // 3.1 Developing Theoretical Proposals // 3.2 Elaboration of the Initial Proposals // 3.2.1 The Discourse of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) // 3.2.2 The Discourse of the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) // 3.2.3 The Discourse of Liberals, Christian Democrats and Greens // 3.2.4 The Discourse of the Communists (KSČM) // 3.2.5 Václav Havel’s Contribution to the Discourse // 3.3 Modifying the Initial Proposals // 3.4 Summarising the Czech Central Story // 4. Is the Czech Discourse on Europe Unique? // 4.1 Is the Czech Republic a Typical Example of the Countries of the Fifth EU Enlargement? // 4.1.2 Slovakia a Bumpier Road to Membership // 4.1.3 Poland the Role of Tradition // 4.1.4 Hungary Reclaiming the One’s Rightful Place in Europe // 4.2 Comparing the Visegrád Countries // 5. Sweden Modernisation and Identity // 5.1 Sweden’s Entrance into the EU Outlining the Central Story // 6. Elaborating on the Meta-Narratives // 6.1 Three Ideal Types of the Sovereignty Modernisation Nexus // 6.2 Modernisation, Sovereignty and the Legitimacy of Governance // 6.3 Implications for the Legitimacy Debate // 7. Conclusion // 7.1 Proposals for Further Research Bibliography About the Author // List of Figures // 1. Proposals development and ideal type formulation // 2. Research procedure (discourse analysis) // 3. The initial seven categories // 4. The concept of instrument: the relationship between categories // 5. Steps of the analysis // 6. Ideal types of discourses on European unity