Simona Škríbová and Monika Brusenbauch Meislová Publish in Prestigious European Journal of Communication on How the EU Legitimated Military Aid to Ukraine
Titled “Legitimising the Unprecedented: An In-Depth Analysis of the EU Institutional Discourse on Military Aid to Ukraine”, the article examines how the European Union discursively legitimised its unprecedented decision to provide coordinated military aid to Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
It addresses an important yet under-researched question: how did EU institutions publicly justify such a major transformation in EU policy through their official communication? Theoretically drawing on Van Leeuwen’s framework of legitimation and methodologically combining qualitative content analysis with critical discourse analysis, the study examines posts published on X (Twitter) between 2022 and 2024 by eight EU institutions and representatives.
The findings reveal a complex pattern of discursive coherence achieved through a division of labour across the actors. While all actors relied on legitimation strategies of moral evaluation, authorisation, and rationalisation, they did so through distinct yet complementary registers, ranging from institutional consensus and strategic resolve to moral duty, emotional urgency, and the Union's normative vocation.
The article is available in open access here .
