Geopolitical mythmaking: A narrative study of German far-right media discourse on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This study examines how German far-right digital media use narratives and mythological storytelling to recontextualise crises and legitimise far-right discourses, focusing on the 2022 Ukraine invasion as a case study. Drawing on narrative analysis and Van Leeuwen's (Legitimation in discourse and com...
| Publicado en: | Critical Discourse Studies Vol. 23; no. 5; pp. 573 - 592 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Sep2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=196237757&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 196237757 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 17405904 RF5 jtl: Critical Discourse Studies issn: 17405904 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Sep2026 vid: 23 iid: 5 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 196237757 10.1080/17405904.2025.2524372 ppf: 573 ppct: 19 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 547KB tig: atl: Geopolitical mythmaking: A narrative study of German far-right media discourse on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. aug: au: Welker, Bianca affil: Media and Communication Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland su: Russian invasion of Ukraine, 2022- Geopolitics Elitism Organizational legitimacy North Atlantic Treaty Organization Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1952- Mass media Narration Narrative inquiry (Research method) Ukraine sug: subj: Ukraine Russian invasion of Ukraine, 2022- Geopolitics Elitism Organizational legitimacy North Atlantic Treaty Organization Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1952- Mass media Narration Narrative inquiry (Research method) keyword: discourse legitimation far-right media Germany ideologies mythopoesis narrative analysis recontextualisation ab: This study examines how German far-right digital media use narratives and mythological storytelling to recontextualise crises and legitimise far-right discourses, focusing on the 2022 Ukraine invasion as a case study. Drawing on narrative analysis and Van Leeuwen's (Legitimation in discourse and communication. Discourse & Communication, 1(1), 91–112) legitimation framework, this qualitative study analyses articles from five German outlets and RT Deutsch to explore how mythopoetic storytelling, actor portrayals, and historical reframings construct and legitimise cohesive crisis narratives. By presenting the invasion as a necessary response to alleged NATO provocation, far-right media cast Putin archetypically as virtuous underdog challenging Western hegemony. I show how symbolic significance is assigned to the invasion as a rupture point which ultimately serves to perpetuate the myth of the 'Decline of the West' and broader discourses of anti-elitism, nostalgia, and rebirth. The inclusion of RT Deutsch reflects concerns about the growing convergence of Russian state-sponsored narratives and European far-right discourses, with their ideological affinities becoming more significant amidst rising geopolitical tensions. These concerns reinforce the need to examine the potency of narrativity, particularly its role in legitimising ideologies irrespective of the crisis or the narrative's source. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Critical Discourse Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Critical Discourse Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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