“Putin, You Suck”: Affective Sticking Points in the Czech Narrative on “Russian Hybrid Warfare”

Abstract

Using the case of the Czech narrative on "Russian hybrid warfare" (RHW), this article contributes to the broader question of why narratives succeed. Building on Lacanian psychoanalysis, narrative scholarship, and affect/emotions research in International Relations, we suggest that narrative success is facilitated also by two interrelated factors: embedding in broader cultural contexts and the ability to incorporate and reproduce collectively circulating affects. We develop a methodological framework for encircling unobservable affects within discourse via "sticking points"-linguistic phenomena infused with affective investment. We outline three categories of sticking points-valued signifiers, fantasies, and biographical narratives. Utilizing the approach in our case study, we focus on a narrative based around the notion that Russia waged a "hybrid war" against "the West" and that this should be faced with quasi-military measures, which was successful in changing the language of Czech national security. We show that this narrative incorporated a range of sticking points, which contributed to its relative success. It utilized valued signifiers, such as "the West," "the Kremlin," "agents," and "occupation," weaved them together into a fantasy of a threat to the nation's "Western" identity, and intertwined this with the biographical narratives of history as a lens for world politics and East/West geopolitics.

Studying Emotions in Security and Diplomacy: Where We Are Now and Challenges Ahead

“…This also speaks to the contribution by Eberle and Daniel () who focused on the broader question of why narratives succeed. By framing their argument on the basis of Lacanian psychoanalysis as well as narrative scholarship and affect/emotions research in IR, Eberle and Daniel argued that narrative success is facilitated by two interrelated factors: (1) the embeddedness of narratives within broader cultural contexts and (2) the potential of narratives to incorporate and reproduce collectively circulating affects.…”

“…Emotions play an important role in the success or otherwise of security discourses and diplomatic practices. They can lead to a redirection of foreign policies (as exemplified by the contributions of Baker, ; Eberle & Daniel, ; Keys & Yorke, ), investments in morally questionable practices conducted in the name of security such as torture or drone warfare (Edney‐Browne, ; Houck et al, ), and conflicts and wars (see Adisonmez, ; Ariely, ). The boundary drawn between the assumed self and the imagined other is so embedded in emotional labor and so engrained in politics and social and economic relations that even challenging these narratives becomes politically unimaginable (Bilgic et al, ).…”

“…Second, our contributors have shown that when emotions are collectively felt and expressed, they can bring about an elusive notion of security and stability in the manner in which “the self” is defined in contrast to an/“the other.” This stability is, of course, open to challenges. However, continual emotional appeals of security discourses enable political actors to reproduce this sense of stability (see Adisonmez, ; also see Ariely, ; Bilgic et al, ; Eberle & Daniel, ). At the same time, emotions offer a way of cracking this seemingly insurmountable challenge.…”

“…This is useful and important for us to think about and analyze how political actors (e.g., in our contemporary political context, far‐right populist parties) generate and capitalize upon emotions about the “past”—which is now either long gone or did not ever exist—with the promise that the future of “the self” is in this past that is loved, missed, and longed for (Ariely, ; Hall & Ross, ; van Hoef & O'Connor, ). Similarly, fears and anxieties about the past can be instrumentalized for shaping the present and future of the collective self (Adisonmez, ; Eberle & Daniel, ) and what is legitimate to do in order to secure “the self” (Houck et al, ). In both cases, political actors empower themselves by interrupting the linear time of the imagined “self” and by invoking emotions about the past and calling for a reimagination of that same, mythologized past to shape a (presumed) better future.…”

Making Human Rights Emotional: A Research Agenda to Recover Shame in “Naming and Shaming”

“…This special issue similarly presents several examples of effectively used discursive tools to investigate emotions in politics. For example, Hōne () employs discursive psychology in the study of media discourses, while Eberle and Daniel () builds on narratives , emotions, and Lacanian psychoanalysis to examine the success of a particular political narrative over the other. This prevailing emphasis on discourse and rhetoric is echoed in empirical work on emotions in IR with data emanating from interviews, speeches, and statements of political actors or textual repositories of collective emotional narratives.…”