Mykola Riabchuk

Within two months of his research at IWM, Mykola Riabchuk will study topical narratives on the Russo-Ukrainian war arising from various sources (scholarly journals, think tanks and mass media) to find out the hidden ideologies (normative principles and practical interests) that drive each of them, to establish some typology of these narratives, define their peculiarities, and detect the way and degree to which they reflect and/or mystify reality. Content analysis and critical discourse analysis will be employed to disclose the malignant distortions, omissions and euphemisms, false framing and crafty manipulations that induce ambiguity and confusion into a rather clear case of an unprovoked war of aggression, in violation of international law and bilateral agreements.

The project aims at a study of the post-communist transformations in a large group of states, Ukraine in particular, stuck for years in a “grey zone” between unconsolidated democracy and unconsolidated authoritarianism. Of many factors that determine this (under)development, identity split and informal character of national politics are the primary objects of the proposed research.