Ah, the Roads! Or how Demagogic Ideologemes Work

Abstract

This article is an attempt to show how the means of manipulative construction of political reality work on a single example of ideological concept of “road protection”, used a quarter of a century ago by the Georgian authorities as a pretext for a military invasion of Abkhazia. The study revealed that such ideologemes initiate a certain socio-behavioral reflection and allow the aggressor country, under the guise of pseudo-human goals, to carry out both “soft” (humanitarian) and direct (military) expansion. The concept of ideology has acquired special significance for modern political linguistics, and today, in the era of hybrid wars, its analysis and study are more relevant than ever. The aim of the study is to analyze the ideology of “road protection” which highlights the manipulative conceptual features and to prove its demagogic nature. To achieve this goal, we will turn to the events of August 1992 and try to understand the symbolic and ideological concept of “road protection”, used as a lingua-pragmatic background of expansion. The goal is to understand how to use ideological cliches in the minds of the implemented setup, and create unnecessary political mood which enabled the Georgian authorities to implement, not condemned by the international community, the military invasion of the territory of Abkhazia. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time it introduces and actualizes the concept of demagogic ideology. We define demagogic ideology as a populist-propaganda stamp, manifested itself in a certain historical period as a reality, and characterized by imperativeness and, most importantly, simulativeness. Such ideological cliches are thrown in political discourse with the aim to lull the vigilance and urging them on to obviously incorrect conclusions. Over time, however, demagogic ideologies lose their importance and are perceived as not justified expectations of performance, error, not relevant axiological dominant members of a particular culture. In our work we adhered to the following methods of research: linguoideological – to interpret the content of corresponding ideologies; linguistic and semiotic – with the aim of realizing the symbolic mechanisms used for the influence and formation of the corresponding reactions in the consciousness of the masses; and linguocultural – to identify the causes of certain ideological concepts effectiveness.