KRIGET OM NARRATIVET En kvantitativ innehållsanalys av narrativens spridning i den militära konflikten mellan Ukraina och Ryssland

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the different narratives in regards to the military conflict in Ukraine, which was initiated by Russia in February 2022. By using strategic narratives countries seek to justify their actions and gain power, narrative power. Russia and Ukraine have wildly different stories and narratives about the ongoing conflict and why it was initiated. Russia claims that Ukraine is committing genocide against ethnic Russians and they are using word such as genocide, military operation and conflict to justify their actions. On the other hand, Ukraine claims their innocence. Their narrative involves words such as war, invasion and war crimes. Previous research has studied how countries seek narrative powers for their own gain, but have not shown which narrative dominates where and why the spread of the dominant narratives differ. By adopting a quantitative content analysis method on media coverage in 127 countries, this study seeks to investigate if relationships affect the belief of the narratives and descriptively show where the different narratives are dominant. The result shows that the relationship to Russia matters in regard to which narrative a country chooses to adopt. Media in EU and NATO member countries are less likely to use the term military operation. Future research should continue to study the topic to explain the gains of a country who adopts a certain narrative; why does a country with close ties to Russia actually adopt their narrative?