Completion reports and launch of databases of leaders' cognitive maps, citizens' cognitive maps and of public discourse

Transcrisis aims to develop a solid understanding of the role of leaders in managing transboundary crises and the requirements for ensuring an effective and legitimate crisis response. One of the seven crisis-management tasks that leaders need to perform is meaning-making. Meaning-making refers to the necessity to formulate a key message that offers an explanation of the threat, actionable advice, and a sense that leaders are in control of the situation (Boin, Cadar & Donnelley, 2016). Adequate meaning making is key to dealing with a crisis in an effective and legitimate fashion. This is especially important during transboundary crises as cultural, national, legal boundaries make shared meaning making more difficult and less routine. In its totality, Deliverable 3.2 will study meaning-making in nine member states at three different levels, using the method of cognitive mapping: the level of political and financial leaders, meaning making in the public discourse (Op-ed media sources) and meaning making by citizens (Survey). In the present report (D3.2a), we explore how political and financial leaders of nine European Union member states have made meaning of the Euro-crisis. The current three reports that will make up this deliverable will only contain quantitative analyses, the final report of WP3 will offer more in-depth and comparative analysis of the three level of meaning-making.