Many critical scholars hold that the new Cold War is already more dangerous than its predecessor,... more Many critical scholars hold that the new Cold War is already more dangerous than its predecessor, partly due to the synergy of Western intelligence services and various hegemonic-ideological institutions-the Censorship-Industrial Complex-in demonizing Russia. Although many critical scholars agree that Western academia plays a crucial role in reproducing the hegemonic anti-Russian discourse, this paper is one of the first efforts to empirically measure RUSSIA IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS
This book explores the detrimental effects on global peace of populism’s tendency to present comp... more This book explores the detrimental effects on global peace of populism’s tendency to present complex social issues in simplistic "good versus evil" terms. Analyzing the civilizational discourse of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with respect to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine—with his division of the world into "civilized us" versus "barbarian them"—the book argues that such a one-dimensional representation of complex social reality leaves no space for understanding the conflict and has little, if any, potential to bring about peace. To deconstruct the "civilization versus barbarism" discourse propagated by Zelensky, the book incorporates into its analysis alternative articulations of the crisis by oppositional voices. The author looks at the writing of several popular Ukrainian journalists and bloggers who have been excluded from the field of political representation within Ukraine, where all oppositional media are currently banned. Drawing on the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, the author argues that the incorporation of alternative perspectives, and silenced voices, is vitally important for understanding the complexity of all international conflicts, including the current one between Russia and Ukraine.
Drawing on the ideas of Laclau and Mouffe (1985) and Carpentier (2017), this paper shows how, on ... more Drawing on the ideas of Laclau and Mouffe (1985) and Carpentier (2017), this paper shows how, on the one hand, discursive-material assemblages within the digital environment of interconnected information networks prevent the possibility of final discursive closures, while, on the other hand, they may weaken discourses, preventing them from serving as a mobilizing force for social change. To illustrate this, the paper discusses the case of Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, who banned oppositional television channels in a bid to shut down oppositional discourse by both discursive (the reduction of oppositional arguments) and material means (the physical closure of the studios). Discourse-material analysis presented in the paper draws on the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and Nico Carpentier's Discursive-Material Knot.
This chapter discusses how Ukrainian politicians have been exploiting conspiratorial populist dis... more This chapter discusses how Ukrainian politicians have been exploiting conspiratorial populist discourses to instigate public fears and shift attention from the internal dimensions of Ukrainian problems to external ones. The case study discussed is the Odessa tragedy that happened on May 2, 2014, when forty-eight people died as a result of street clashes between two groups of Ukrainians – the opponents and proponents of the revolution called ‘Euromaidan’. Using framing analysis, the chapter investigates the coverage of the tragedy by the news programs of three national television networks and Ukraine’s five most popular news websites: news articles posted online by these outlets on May 3 and 4, the two days immediately after the fire.
Many critical scholars hold that the new Cold War is already more dangerous than its predecessor,... more Many critical scholars hold that the new Cold War is already more dangerous than its predecessor, partly due to the synergy of Western intelligence services and various hegemonic-ideological institutions-the Censorship-Industrial Complex-in demonizing Russia. Although many critical scholars agree that Western academia plays a crucial role in reproducing the hegemonic anti-Russian discourse, this paper is one of the first efforts to empirically measure RUSSIA IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS
This book explores the detrimental effects on global peace of populism’s tendency to present comp... more This book explores the detrimental effects on global peace of populism’s tendency to present complex social issues in simplistic "good versus evil" terms. Analyzing the civilizational discourse of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with respect to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine—with his division of the world into "civilized us" versus "barbarian them"—the book argues that such a one-dimensional representation of complex social reality leaves no space for understanding the conflict and has little, if any, potential to bring about peace. To deconstruct the "civilization versus barbarism" discourse propagated by Zelensky, the book incorporates into its analysis alternative articulations of the crisis by oppositional voices. The author looks at the writing of several popular Ukrainian journalists and bloggers who have been excluded from the field of political representation within Ukraine, where all oppositional media are currently banned. Drawing on the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, the author argues that the incorporation of alternative perspectives, and silenced voices, is vitally important for understanding the complexity of all international conflicts, including the current one between Russia and Ukraine.
Drawing on the ideas of Laclau and Mouffe (1985) and Carpentier (2017), this paper shows how, on ... more Drawing on the ideas of Laclau and Mouffe (1985) and Carpentier (2017), this paper shows how, on the one hand, discursive-material assemblages within the digital environment of interconnected information networks prevent the possibility of final discursive closures, while, on the other hand, they may weaken discourses, preventing them from serving as a mobilizing force for social change. To illustrate this, the paper discusses the case of Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, who banned oppositional television channels in a bid to shut down oppositional discourse by both discursive (the reduction of oppositional arguments) and material means (the physical closure of the studios). Discourse-material analysis presented in the paper draws on the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and Nico Carpentier's Discursive-Material Knot.
This chapter discusses how Ukrainian politicians have been exploiting conspiratorial populist dis... more This chapter discusses how Ukrainian politicians have been exploiting conspiratorial populist discourses to instigate public fears and shift attention from the internal dimensions of Ukrainian problems to external ones. The case study discussed is the Odessa tragedy that happened on May 2, 2014, when forty-eight people died as a result of street clashes between two groups of Ukrainians – the opponents and proponents of the revolution called ‘Euromaidan’. Using framing analysis, the chapter investigates the coverage of the tragedy by the news programs of three national television networks and Ukraine’s five most popular news websites: news articles posted online by these outlets on May 3 and 4, the two days immediately after the fire.
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Papers by Olga Baysha