Work

Talking About Democracy? A Comparative View of Discourses in the European Union and Armenia, Belarus, and Ukraine

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This working paper examines how democracy is discursively constructed and strategically mobilised by symbolic elites in the European Union and three Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries: Armenia, Belarus, and Ukraine. It explores whether a shared democratic discourse exists across these contexts and how convergence or divergence reflects underlying geopolitical dynamics and patterns of norm diffusion. Methodologically, the study combines cross-country comparative discourse analysis with norm diffusion conceptual framework, focusing on how officials, politicians, and civil society actors in the EaP reproduce, adapt, or resist EU-promoted democratic norms. Drawing on a corpus of 237 texts (2014–2024), it employs actor-centred coding and intertextual analysis – paying particular attention to discursive positioning and the modality-evaluation gap – to reveal how institutional asymmetries and geopolitical pressures shape the uptake and transformation of democratic language.

Source: Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18232288

Authors: Gomza, Ivan, Rabinovych, Maryna, Hartvih, Denys, Darkovich, Andrii, Karokis-Mavrikos, Vassilis, Exadaktylos, Theofanis, Chappell, Laura, Aleksanyan, Arusyak, Sahakyan, Armine, Muradyan, Mariam

Institutions: Kyiv School of Economics, University of Surrey, Yerevan State University, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia

Language: English

Topic: European Politics and Security

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7123770640

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