Political Narratives Research Articles

French political symbolism and identity construction

The present study examines how the language of political symbolism operates within the framework of identity construction. It focusses on the themes of sovereignty during the 2022 French presidency of the European Union and the national presidential election campaign. On the basis of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, it suggests that, apart from purely linguistic features, extra-linguistic factors are also essential in order to convey a global view of symbolic rhetoric. The analysis is conducted according to an overall 6-tier model of figurative origins involving the parameters of personal background, political context, cultural history, reference, conceptual metaphor and linguistic metaphor. By applying the parameters of the model, it is proposed that the core of political argumentation in the corpus analysis is based on national symbols and the conceptual mapping they embody. The basic hypothesis of the model assumes that a politician attempts to portray the symbolisation of unity in accordance with his or her political background and personal biography. A political narrative is thereby created within the current political context using predominant symbols in cultural history. An over-riding factor is the role of referential points which may determine divergence in conceptual mapping. These features then lead to the construction of conceptual metaphors which can take on a particularly hyperbolic structure in the ensuing linguistic metaphors. The implications of the study highlight the important role of symbolism in political debate, its interaction with conceptual metaphor, the relevance of extra-linguistic factors portrayed by the 6-tier model, the link between cultural history and hyperbolic linguistic structures and political divergence in similar symbols.

The Resurrection of Borders Inside of the Schengen Area and its Media Representations

The bordering processes inside of the Schengen Area are traditionally under the scrutiny of border studies scholars. The European Union has been repeatedly displayed as a laboratory for a free cross-border movement, often with synonyms like an ostensibly borderless area (Scott 2012). This so-called Schengen culture (Zaiotti 2011) developed due to intensifying cross-border contact and integration between EU member states. However, in the decade between 2010 and 2020 this Schengen culture has been repeatedly challenged by the geopolitical crises and nationalistic political narratives and decisions. This study concentrates on this debate about borders in the selected European news. The analysis of news articles from six newspapers (Mladá fronta, Hospodářské noviny, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Der Standard, and Die Presse) shows how the context of the border debate evolved under the impact of migration crises and coronavirus crisis. Throughout the decade of the 2010s, this study witnesses the gradual securitization of borders inside of the EU and illustrates how the symbolic language and various narratives contributed to this development.

The Structures of Political, Economic, and Socio-cultural Rhetorical Narratives on Social Media

This research was conducted on the ground of the reason for the increasingly widespread use of narratives on various social media platforms. Narrative is an event whereby someone represents an event aiming to influence the understanding, emotions and values of others. This study qualitatively aims to capture the most common elements of narrative structure focusing on political, economic, and socio-cultural rhetorical narratives data originated from social media platforms. The theoretical model of narrative structure consisting of Abstract, Orientation, Complicating Actions, Resolution, Evaluation and Coda, as proposed by Labov and Waletzky was used to analyze the narrative data collected during the first four months of 2022. On the ground of social situated meanings, the findings show that the most common model of narrative structure is fully used whenever greater details of events, facts, or information are needed to be emphasized. For such reasons, all the elements of narrative structure are held to be obligatory. The findings show that some elements of narrative structure are left out and held to be optional as such elements are not considered necessary to convey the main content. In addition, the findings also show that some particular element allows it to be further developed with more embedded events, facts, opinion, or information.

Native Removal Writing: Narratives of Peoplehood, Politics, and Law by Sabine N. Meyer (review)

Native Removal Writing: Narratives of Peoplehood, Politics, and Law by Sabine N. Meyer (review)

Lieux de Memoire in Dalian: Political Narratives of History

Lieux de Memoire in Dalian: Political Narratives of History

Innocence and danger at the border: migrants, “Bad” mothers, and the nation’s protectors

Media and political discourse in the USA often depict migration as an invasion and people who cross borders as criminals dangerous to the nation. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two places on the USA-Mexico Southern border, we want to analyze how invasion narratives influence practices on-the-ground. We first explore how these narratives inform the views of a border militia who see themselves as protectors of the nation and understand people who cross borders as threats. We then argue that migrant women’s presence in areas where the militia operates disrupts the dominant narrative that defines migrants as dangerous, as militia members come to understand migrant women as victims of the Cartel. Despite their innocence, to maintain the narrative’s consistency, militia members still consider migrant women criminals for crossing the border “illegally.” Finally, we move on to explore the materiality of these xenophobic discourses by examining how migrant women are mistreated at a family immigration detention center. Using the militias as an example, we highlight why political narratives circulate and have meaning for individuals and how discourses have material consequences.

Critical Discourse Analysis of Biden's Speech on the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan

The study analyses Vice President Joe Biden's address to the UN General Assembly on the United States' departure from Afghanistan. The study uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze the speech's language and rhetoric to reveal the hidden ideologies and beliefs that informed its development. The dynamic interplay between rhetoric and policy decisions and their broader ramifications in international relations and domestic understanding is the primary focus of this inquiry. Our research places the exact wording, words, and rhetorical methods against more extensive historical, geopolitical, and societal backgrounds. This research provides important insights into the complex interaction between political rhetoric, public perception, and policy repercussions by bridging these concepts with real-world effects. Especially for major foreign policy decisions, the findings illuminate how political narratives, when appropriately analyzed, disclose deeper levels of intention, rationale, and global strategy.

The nightless nights of the ‘Nazi camp’: The Finnish far-right’s anti-climate politics in urban space

The globally growing climate justice movement has drawn attention to the accelerating climate change and the structural changes that climate mitigation would require. At the same time, there has been a surge and normalization of radical and extreme right-wing groups and parties. Their central element is not only ethno-nationalism and authoritarianism but also anti-climate politics, as they seek to obstruct climate politics, mobilize anti-scientific fictions and discredit scientists and activists. The far right’s intimidation of climate justice activists has been studied by examining its textual and visual discourses in online spaces, but less attention has been paid to far-right anti-climate practices in urban spaces. Drawing on social movement geographies, I aim to contribute to the discussions on far-right anti-climate politics by analysing the spatial strategies of the Finnish far-right’s counterprotests (the so-called ‘Nazi camp’) during Extinction Rebellion Finland’s ‘Summer Rebellion’ in June 2021 in Helsinki. By doing so, I show that far-right anti-climate politics (in the form of climate scepticism and intimidation of climate activists) are not limited to online spaces but emerge through different strategies in urban spaces by which the far-right competes for control over space and visibility and shapes public narratives of climate change and politics.

Internarrativity beyond acceptance: strategic narrative reproduction and Taiwan's ‘Taiwan Can Help’ campaign in the U.S.

ABSTRACT A political actor's strategic narratives will be accepted if they appeal to the target audience's master narratives, but acceptance is not a singular outcome. By building on the internarrativity framework by examining the audience as a narrator and identifying distortions in meaning between two narrative tellings, this paper analyzes the ‘Taiwan Can Help’ campaign as a strategic narrative that was overtly accepted by the U.S. while still being distorted and constrained by the same master narratives that enabled acceptance. The U.S. audience's reproductions of Taiwan's narrative only preserved elements that affirmed its exceptionalist self-identity and threat perceptions while overlooking the particulars of Taiwan's pandemic response model that the original narrative emphasised. This research contributes to the understanding that the discursive environment constrains Taiwan's capability to reach its full potential in projecting substantial influence in US-Taiwan relations, addressing Taiwan's unequal predicament, and garnering political support.

Aircraft vulnerability to politically motivated Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) in Eastern Europe

Countries in Europe have experienced radio frequency interference from Russian electronic warfare units, affecting navigation systems without discrimination. Interference has been identified as coming from the Russian mainland, Kaliningrad, and in the areas where it is engaged in conflicts abroad, creating serious hazards for aircraft. Previous research has identified the technical vulnerabilities to aviation from radio frequency interference, but it has yet to be contextualised in light of the ongoing geopolitical tensions. Using literature review analysis, the aim of the article is to place the jamming and spoofing threat in the context of ongoing political tensions between Russia and the region and to establish worse-case scenarios based on the former’s motives. Focusing on the threats to aircraft, it finds that the likely motivations are to (1) complement political narratives of Western aggression; (2) to deny service for intimidation, harassment, economic loss, and to portray a dominant Russian cyber influence; and (3) to use spoofing to enable hostage diplomacy via the seizure of people and assets. It argues that reporting mechanisms for aviation risks assumes geographical staticism, which does not correspond adequately to the threat. It also creates arbitrary “predictability” in otherwise unpredictable environments, which could ultimately affect vigilance and due diligence in the areas not considered problematic.

‘Dead faces laugh’: Medievalist hungers and Irish republican time, 1917-1981

AbstractThe article analyses the temporal entanglements of personal and historical time through hunger-striking protests in Ireland and their commemoration in medieval imagery, reflecting on the role of medievalism and temporality in nation-building by insurgent agents. Between 1917 and 1981, twenty-two Irish republican paramilitary prisoners undertook hunger strikes to the death for recognition of political status and protest against their prison regimes. While some of these deaths went unremarked by the wider public because of state censorship and lack of support, others catalysed worldwide attention, and succeeded in pitching a compelling national and political narrative for their supporters. The article focuses on how the use of medievalism in examining and commemorating these deaths highlights the vivid temporal collapse between the present of the individual and the past of the nation, and the way this can appeal to the protest’s audience, while making a powerful political bid for the legitimacy of the insurgents’ national narrative. The article examines temporal entanglement both as practiced by the audience of the hunger strikes, from poets such as W.B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney to journalists and scholars, and by the republican community itself, whether by hunger strike survivors, their comrades, or their families, bringing together literary, material, and art historical evidence to show its relevance and pervasiveness. By doing so, the article achieves a study of the ways medievalist temporalities interact with political and personal history, in a bid for the ownership and definition of the nation.

Co-Opting Truth: Explaining Quasi-Judicial Institutions in Authoritarian Regimes

ABSTRACT: What accounts for the creation, design, and outputs of quasi-judicial institutions in autocracies? Prior research demonstrates that autocrats co-opt electoral, legislative, and judicial institutions to curtail opponents’ power and curry international patrons’ favor. However, scholarship on co-optation neglects quasi-judicial mechanisms, such as truth commissions, that can be useful for arranging a political narrative that bolsters a leader’s image while undermining his rivals. In this article, we formalize the concept of autocratic truth commissions—which account for one-third of truth commissions globally—and develop and test a novel theory of their origins, inputs, and outputs. We theorize that autocrats establish self-investigating commissions in response to threats to their symbolic authority and install rival-investigating commissions in response to threats to both symbolic authority and regime survival. We further argue that these two commission types take on different institutional forms and produce different outputs. Self-investigating commissions are afforded narrow mandates and produce reports that obscure basic facts. Meanwhile, rival-investigating commissions are granted wide mandates and culminate in accurate reports of rivals’ responsibility for abuses. We evaluate these expectations through comparative case studies of two autocratic truth commissions in Uganda, and find support.

Beyond Borders: Unpacking us Military Involvement in Afghanistan as a Case Study in the Islamic World

Purpose: This study seeks to assess the adherence to international law in the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan, prompted by the September 11 attacks. Additionally, it aims to investigate the impact of the Greater Middle East Initiative on U.S. policy towards the Islamic World, specifically Afghanistan, providing insights into legal intricacies and broader consequences. Theoretical Framework: This article engages in discussions among Western scholars on the Afghanistan war and U.S. military involvement but distinguishes itself by incorporating insights from Middle Eastern scholars. It aims to enrich the discourse by integrating perspectives from within the Middle Eastern scholarly community, offering a comprehensive view of these complex subjects. Methodology: Employing historical, descriptive, and in-depth analytical research methods, this study examines events around September 11, 2001, providing essential context for the subsequent U.S. military intervention. Descriptive methods offer a detailed account of the post-9/11 shift in U.S. policy, while in-depth analytical methods scrutinize legal dilemmas arising from the intervention, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of historical context, U.S. policy decisions, and legal complexities. Results: The results and discussion section explores the historical evolution of U.S. military engagement in 21st-century Afghanistan, analyzing its strategic shifts and the Taliban's adaptation to guerrilla warfare. It critically evaluates the international legal aspects of the Afghan War, assessing the legitimacy of the U.S.-led military intervention based on UN conventions, historical precedents, and key principles such as the right to legitimate defense, urgency, and proportionality. Conclusions: The aftermath of September 11, 2001, marked a transformative moment in U.S. policy towards Afghanistan and the broader Middle East, leading to the consequential Afghan War. Despite its geopolitical significance, the absence of explicit UN Security Council authorization prompts a critical examination of the war's legitimacy, revealing lapses in meeting criteria for the right to individual or collective legitimate defense and urging a reevaluation of established narratives in international relations and global politics.

Criterion Symbolization and Political Endorsement in Jokowi’s Speech at the United Nusantara Movement Meeting

Joko Widodo, the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia, who served two terms (2014–2019 and 2019–2024), is considered a leader who is able to overcome problems and to successfully bring about changes, both in the political context and in the context of governance and development. Joko Widodo, or Jokowi for short, is considered a visionary president and is a hard worker. The vision and leadership characteristics shown by Jokowi are significantly able to break the rigidity of bureaucracy at various levels, streamline public service patterns, and implement development programs throughout Indonesia. The question is, when Jokowi’s leadership period ends in October 2024, who will “continue” Jokowi’s leadership from 2024–2029? On some occasions, the political communication narrative delivered by Jokowi symbolically gave multiple interpretations depending on to whom his political endorsement was directed at. This study aims to analyze Jokowi’s speech at the United Nusantara Movement Meeting on November 26, 2022, at Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Stadium, which is full of symbolic meaning. This research uses a qualitative approach with Roland Barthes’ semiotic analysis to uncover the meaning of political endorsement symbolization behind Jokowi’s speech, which emphasizes myths; the unit of analysis is Jokowi’s speech recording released on the Kompas TV YouTube channel. The results showed that Jokowi built discourse and that the next president is a leader who has characteristics like himself: serving the people, creating justice, continuing change, and continuing the development that Jokowi has done

Media Framing of Kaesang Pangerep’s PSI Chairmanship by Tribunnews.com

Media undeniably has a great influence in the political sphere today. The interdependence between media and politics is an interesting discussion because it should be an institution that disseminates information neutrally, no tendency to certain groups. However, today’s media in Indonesia exacerbates the phenomenon of political mediatization. This study aims to provide new insights into how Tribunnews.com uses framing to shape political narratives in the context of news coverage of Kaesang Pangarep’s rise to the leadership of PSI party. This study combines qualitative methodology with the framing analysis method based on the theories of Gerald Kosicki and Zhongdang Pan. It examined the Tribunnews.com report, edition September 30th 2023 titled “Observer Suspects Megawati’s Anger over Kaesang Joining PSI”. Tribunnews.com was chosen because the news was only reviewed from the observer’s side. Hence, this research attempted to reveal how Kaesanng’s rise to the leadership of the PSI party was framed by Tribunnews.com. The results of the research based on the Zhongdang Pan and Kosicki model demonstrated that Tribunnews.com constructed Megawati’s alleged anger, yet the news was not followed with reliable sources for balanced reporting. Tribunnews.com also mediatized the use of bombastic titles and content to increase news appeal. This requires a public concern because the media, which should act as the fourth pillar of democracy, instead tend to mediatize the news only for attaining public attention.

Critical Discourse Analysis of Trump's Tweets on the Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper presents a critical discourse analysis of Donald Trump's tweets regarding COVID-19, utilizing Fairclough's three-dimensional model and Halliday's systemic functional linguistics to examine the language used. The analysis centers on two tweets that illustrate Trump's politicization of the pandemic and the propagation of stigmatization through social media. The research examines the stylistic and formal characteristics of Trump's tweets, focusing on his use of metaphorical language and blame-shifting tactics, specifically his labeling of COVID-19 as a 'Chinese virus.' The analysis also investigates discourse practices, connecting Trump's rhetoric on the U.S.-China trade agreement and pandemic response to wider political narratives. The study analyzes the socio-cultural implications of Trump's discourse at a macro level. It highlights how his discourse exacerbated xenophobia, nationalism, and social divisions during the global health crisis. The findings demonstrate that Trump's tweets influenced public perceptions and international relations, reinforcing anti-China attitudes and contributing to a polarized public response to the pandemic. This study emphasizes the significance of a critical and reflective approach to political communication, particularly during times of crisis. It also offers insights into the creation and dissemination of ideological narratives in the digital era.

Realism against delegitimation

ABSTRACT Political realists exercise ideology critique to emancipate citizens from problematic beliefs concerning the legitimacy of their social order. They seek to unveil hidden conflict within apparent harmony. However, realists have so far neglected the opposite case in which erroneous beliefs delegitimise a social order, thus contributing to unrest and resentment. As a prototypical case for delegitimation, I will discuss the ‘big lie’ narrative that surrounds the 2020 presidential election in the United States. As I will argue, realist ideology critique is currently underequipped to deal with these cases. To address this shortcoming, I propose a modification to the critical realist methodology. I will argue that realists should focus on unveiling self-serving, rather than merely self-justifying, political narratives. In line with a more practice-oriented approach to ideology critique, I will further sketch some implications for liberal democratic institutions that follow from taking delegitimation seriously.

A thin debate: comparing the conflicting political narratives of the UN security council and general assembly on the Gaza Strip from 2006 to 2018

A thin debate: comparing the conflicting political narratives of the UN security council and general assembly on the Gaza Strip from 2006 to 2018

“Deus, Pátria, Família e Liberdade”: a radicalização política no ecossistema de mídia evangélica digital no Brasil

In this paper, we aim to map the websites that make up the digital evangelical media ecosystem in Brazil and build our own typology to analyze it. Despite their internal differences, Brazilian evangelicals form an important political force, thanks to efforts that have lasted decades. However, little has been studied about its internet ecosystem and its role in reproducing divisive political positions. We identified evangelical websites shared by influencers on Facebook between April and October 2021, complementing the database with other previously known websites found on the platform. We evaluate these sites according to the typology constructed and present an analysis of the political narratives commonly supported by them. We demonstrate that these sites often reinforce an imaginary permeated by a political- cultural war waged against Christians, whose identity is redesigned by the threat of widespread persecution and the collapse of their values.

The complex interplay of causal narratives in public policy and political discourse

The study builds on Deborah Stone’s foundational work exploring the mechanics of causal narratives and their implications for framing problems, assigning responsibility, and guiding policy solutions. The purpose of this research is to unravel the complexities of causal narratives in contemporary politics and understand their profound influence on public policy and society at large. In the digital age, where information is abundant and the traditional gatekeeping role of media has diminished, causal narratives have become increasingly multifaceted. The study aims to explore how these narratives, influenced by the intersections of natural phenomena, human actions, politics, risk, and media, shape public understanding and policy directions. The study employs an extensive review of existing literature, covering works from political science, media studies, and public policy. This includes analyzing seminal texts like Deborah Stone’s “Policy Paradox” and recent studies on media’s evolving role in political discourse. Today’s causal narratives are multifaceted, influenced by a myriad of factors including political agendas, scientific findings, and media portrayals. In conclusion, the research highlights the dynamic nature of causal narratives in the digital age and their significant impact on public policy and societal outcomes. It underscores the need for nuanced understanding and strategic approaches in crafting and interpreting these narratives.