British Journal of Politics & International Relations
A ‘Good Story’: Von der Leyen’s Narrative on the Ukrainian War
2025-07-10
Building on narrative literature and using narrative and discourse analysis, we analysed the President of the Commission’s (VdL) speeches on the Ukrainian war to answer the RQs: Do the speeches of the President of the Commission feature the main elements of a compelling policy narrative? What discursive strategies did the President of the Commission use to shape the narrative? We assumed that VdL constructed a strategic European narrative to commit Member States to stand united in the condemnation of Russia’s war of aggression and assistance to Ukraine. Our findings show the construction of an emotional narrative that framed the Ukrainian war as a fight for our European values and the use of discursive strategies that supported the narrative by emphasising the narrator’s honesty and reliability, humanising the victims and the heroes, isolating the villain, bounding emotionally with the audience and legitimising the Commission’s preferred course of action.