Workshop: Apocalyptic Rhetoric & Russian Propaganda

The question guiding this pop-up workshop will be this: What role do apocalyptic ideas and rhetoric play in Russian propaganda? And what impact, if any, has the Ukraine conflict played in the use of this rhetoric?

We may define an apocalyptic frame as invoking a narrative with these characteristics:

• It situates a present event as a crisis point
• The crisis arises due to peak of corruption and degradation
• The crisis marks the onset of a period of intense, necessary conflict between forces of good (aligned with the speaker) and evil the purpose of which is either to prevent ‘the end of the world’ or to bring it about with the hope of transformation on the other side.

For millennia, apocalyptic rhetoric has served as a key narrative frame for extreme politics. The frame is powerful for a range of reasons. Among these, it helps people make sense of disturbing experiences and threatening phenomena; it enables a sense of vindication; it provides a path to self-importance, and combats boredom and loneliness; and the structure of the story means justice triumphs and evil is punished. Because the frame is so powerful, it is often deployed dynamically: at strategic junctures leaders can promise imminent disruption to spark participation in violence. But when by modulating the timing of apocalypse, its power can be submerged serving a strategic interest in the status quo.

The invasion of Ukraine presents an opportunity to investigate the modulation of apocalyptics. In Ukraine, apocalyptic themes have largely disappeared from Ukrainian far right rhetoric, but appears to have found novel forms in the speeches of Zelenskyy. In Russia, state propaganda and popular culture seem to draw liberally on Russian traditions of apocalyptic political thought. Participants in this pop-up workshop would be asked to engage the role of apocalyptics in the rhetoric and propaganda of Russia’s war on Ukraine. What can we learn about the uses and dynamics of apocalyptic rhetoric generally from this case?

This workshop would bring together area experts on Russian political thought, Russian and Ukrainian communications, and apocalyptics. We might touch on the dynamics of the relationship between the Ukrainian and Russian far right. We might consider how and why this form of rhetoric is emerging at the present time and reasons for its in/effectiveness.

If you're interested in attending, please get in touch with Uta Staiger (u.staiger@ucl.ac.uk).

Workshop 1: Apocalypse, rhetoric and the climate crisis 15 July 14:00-16:00