Narrating Peace in Times of War - A Comparative Narrative Analysis of Official EU Discourse on the Russia–Ukraine Conflict in 2014, 2021 and 2025
(2026) EUHR18 20261European Studies
- Abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how the European Union constructs and articulates peace within its official discourse in relation to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2014, 2021 and 2025. The European Union has long presented peace as a central part of its political identity, values and external role. However, political actors, such as the European Union, frequently invoke peace as a self-evident political concept, while its meaning remains ambiguous. The study will examine how peace is constructed and narrated, how threats to peace are represented and how the EU positions itself as a peace actor under changing geopolitical conditions.
The study will be conducted through a comparative narrative analysis of... (More) - The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how the European Union constructs and articulates peace within its official discourse in relation to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2014, 2021 and 2025. The European Union has long presented peace as a central part of its political identity, values and external role. However, political actors, such as the European Union, frequently invoke peace as a self-evident political concept, while its meaning remains ambiguous. The study will examine how peace is constructed and narrated, how threats to peace are represented and how the EU positions itself as a peace actor under changing geopolitical conditions.
The study will be conducted through a comparative narrative analysis of strategically selected EU documents from 2014, 2021 and 2025. The analysis is guided by the narrative framework developed by Frank Gadinger, Sebastian Groth and Katja Freistein, in conjunction with Kerry Walk’s comparative analytical framework. The study focuses on elements such as plot, characterisation, and topoi, as well as the dimensions of fantasy and relationality. Additionally, it incorporates theoretical perspectives on peace developed by Johan Galtung,
Oliver Richmond and Solon Simmons to conceptualise peace as a contested and narratively constructed political concept.
The findings of this thesis demonstrate that while peace remains a continuous and seemingly self-evident concept throughout official EU discourse, the meaning related to peace changes significantly between 2014 and 2025. Liberal peace themes, such as dialogue, diplomacy and international cooperation, were primarily used to narrate peace in 2014. Progressively in 2021, peace is also related to resilience, stability and the management of geopolitical insecurity, which are characteristic of a more neoliberal and security-oriented interpretation
of peace. By 2025, peace was increasingly narrated through themes of deterrence, military capacity, strategic autonomy and defence mobility which reflected a more prominent realist dimension centred on power, security and geopolitical control. In the different contexts of the Russia-Ukraine conflict between 2014 and 2025, both similarities and differences can be identified in how the European Union constructs peace, represents threats and positions itself as a peace actor. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9233375
- author
- Rixman Lööf, Moa LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- EUHR18 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- European Union, peace, narratives, EU discourse, comparative narrative analysis, geopolitics, Russia-Ukraine conflict, EU identity, peace actor, European security, European Studies
- language
- English
- id
- 9233375
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-15 16:15:24
- date last changed
- 2026-06-15 16:15:24
@misc{9233375,
abstract = {{The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how the European Union constructs and articulates peace within its official discourse in relation to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2014, 2021 and 2025. The European Union has long presented peace as a central part of its political identity, values and external role. However, political actors, such as the European Union, frequently invoke peace as a self-evident political concept, while its meaning remains ambiguous. The study will examine how peace is constructed and narrated, how threats to peace are represented and how the EU positions itself as a peace actor under changing geopolitical conditions.
The study will be conducted through a comparative narrative analysis of strategically selected EU documents from 2014, 2021 and 2025. The analysis is guided by the narrative framework developed by Frank Gadinger, Sebastian Groth and Katja Freistein, in conjunction with Kerry Walk’s comparative analytical framework. The study focuses on elements such as plot, characterisation, and topoi, as well as the dimensions of fantasy and relationality. Additionally, it incorporates theoretical perspectives on peace developed by Johan Galtung,
Oliver Richmond and Solon Simmons to conceptualise peace as a contested and narratively constructed political concept.
The findings of this thesis demonstrate that while peace remains a continuous and seemingly self-evident concept throughout official EU discourse, the meaning related to peace changes significantly between 2014 and 2025. Liberal peace themes, such as dialogue, diplomacy and international cooperation, were primarily used to narrate peace in 2014. Progressively in 2021, peace is also related to resilience, stability and the management of geopolitical insecurity, which are characteristic of a more neoliberal and security-oriented interpretation
of peace. By 2025, peace was increasingly narrated through themes of deterrence, military capacity, strategic autonomy and defence mobility which reflected a more prominent realist dimension centred on power, security and geopolitical control. In the different contexts of the Russia-Ukraine conflict between 2014 and 2025, both similarities and differences can be identified in how the European Union constructs peace, represents threats and positions itself as a peace actor.}},
author = {{Rixman Lööf, Moa}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Narrating Peace in Times of War - A Comparative Narrative Analysis of Official EU Discourse on the Russia–Ukraine Conflict in 2014, 2021 and 2025}},
year = {{2026}},
}