Global and Local Conflict Schemas in the Discourse of the Russia-Ukraine War

This paper explores the discourse of the Russia-Ukraine war to outline the dominant narrative schemas anchored in the spatial geopolitical representations of globalness and localness. It uses tools from the domains of critical cognitive discourse studies and narrative research (alternative futures,...

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Main Author: Piotr Cap
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek 2024-12-01
Series:Polish Political Science Yearbook
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author Piotr Cap
author_facet Piotr Cap
author_sort Piotr Cap
collection DOAJ
description This paper explores the discourse of the Russia-Ukraine war to outline the dominant narrative schemas anchored in the spatial geopolitical representations of globalness and localness. It uses tools from the domains of critical cognitive discourse studies and narrative research (alternative futures, discourse scenarios, deictic space, proximization) to distinguish between two most salient schemas: the Global Conflict Schema GCS narrative and the Local Conflict Schema LCS narrative. The GCS narrative conceptualizes the Russia-Ukraine war as a growing international conflict, producing serious political, economic and material consequences for the global community. GCS uses coercive rhetoric to call for immediate measures to support Ukraine so the war can be stopped before spreading beyond its current borders. The principal narrator of GCS is Ukraine, though the narrative is recontextualized in other countries located in geographical proximity to the conflict. The LCS narrative, performed mostly by the Kremlin, construes the war as a local conflict providing no reasons for foreign intervention. LCS is distinctive for its large number of sub-narratives appropriated for different geopolitical audiences, which include the Russian and Ukrainian people, and different audience groups in the West and the Global South. The latter groups re-contextualize the LCS narrative, focusing primarily on economic issues.
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spelling doaj-art-33a30e6c30874e6bb788814c86d591ff2025-08-20T02:14:31ZengWydawnictwo Adam MarszałekPolish Political Science Yearbook0208-73752024-12-0153420522610.15804/ppsy202451Global and Local Conflict Schemas in the Discourse of the Russia-Ukraine WarPiotr Cap0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7685-4112University of Łódź (Poland)This paper explores the discourse of the Russia-Ukraine war to outline the dominant narrative schemas anchored in the spatial geopolitical representations of globalness and localness. It uses tools from the domains of critical cognitive discourse studies and narrative research (alternative futures, discourse scenarios, deictic space, proximization) to distinguish between two most salient schemas: the Global Conflict Schema GCS narrative and the Local Conflict Schema LCS narrative. The GCS narrative conceptualizes the Russia-Ukraine war as a growing international conflict, producing serious political, economic and material consequences for the global community. GCS uses coercive rhetoric to call for immediate measures to support Ukraine so the war can be stopped before spreading beyond its current borders. The principal narrator of GCS is Ukraine, though the narrative is recontextualized in other countries located in geographical proximity to the conflict. The LCS narrative, performed mostly by the Kremlin, construes the war as a local conflict providing no reasons for foreign intervention. LCS is distinctive for its large number of sub-narratives appropriated for different geopolitical audiences, which include the Russian and Ukrainian people, and different audience groups in the West and the Global South. The latter groups re-contextualize the LCS narrative, focusing primarily on economic issues. russia-ukraine warpolitical narrativespatial representationglobal conflict schema (gcs)local conflict schema (lcs)
spellingShingle Piotr Cap
Global and Local Conflict Schemas in the Discourse of the Russia-Ukraine War
Polish Political Science Yearbook
russia-ukraine war
political narrative
spatial representation
global conflict schema (gcs)
local conflict schema (lcs)
title Global and Local Conflict Schemas in the Discourse of the Russia-Ukraine War
title_full Global and Local Conflict Schemas in the Discourse of the Russia-Ukraine War
title_fullStr Global and Local Conflict Schemas in the Discourse of the Russia-Ukraine War
title_full_unstemmed Global and Local Conflict Schemas in the Discourse of the Russia-Ukraine War
title_short Global and Local Conflict Schemas in the Discourse of the Russia-Ukraine War
title_sort global and local conflict schemas in the discourse of the russia ukraine war
topic russia-ukraine war
political narrative
spatial representation
global conflict schema (gcs)
local conflict schema (lcs)
work_keys_str_mv AT piotrcap globalandlocalconflictschemasinthediscourseoftherussiaukrainewar