Emotions and Feeling Rules in Political Discourse. The Case of NATO-Russian Relations over Ukraine

Abstract

The article highlights the potential of emotions in influencing political reality and observes what political implications emotions have on the current NATO-Russia-Ukraine relations; firstly, by analyzing the occurrence and the frequency of used emotions in political speeches of the Russian Federation and NATO, with a focus on documents commenting the relationship of both parties, their common interests and disagreements on various political and security issues, all directly tied to Ukraine as a third party that has stood between these two blocs for many years. Secondly, the authors observe how political leaders use specific emotions in their public speeches to foster the feeling rules as a part of their distributive power politics. Using the public speeches of Vladimir Putin and Sergei Lavrov representing the Russian Federation, and Jens Stoltenberg and Anders Fogh Rasmussen representing NATO as its current and former Secretary Generals, the analysis reveals the hidden role of emotions in an individual's discourse to a broader social and security context. The use of emotions in political communication can shape reality and disguise or, conversely, reveal the intentions of an individual, a group, or an entire state. Producing knowledge about the current war in Ukraine and reasoning for its outbreak and progress based on the feeling rules fostered by political leaders (primarily through fear, indignation, and resentment) may be seen as normalizing some of the worst acts of violence. Emotions are therefore considered a powerful, effective, and inseparable tool of political communication, the importance of which is often overlooked.