This book explores the detrimental effects on global peace of populism’s tendency to present complex social issues in simplistic "good vs. evil" terms.
"Olga Baysha’s riveting War, Peace, and Populist Discourse exposes the lethality of simplistic judgments that fictionalize highly dangerous geopolitical struggles between Russia, Ukraine, and the West. Her devastating perspective is an indispensable contribution to studies in global communication and transnational populism."
Joseph Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Professor Emeritus, Bowling Green State University
"Olga Baysha’s War, Peace, and Populist Discourse challenges the good-versus-evil oversimplification of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and argues that the road to peace must include a shift from antagonism to agonism. This is a valuable addition to the analyses of the ongoing crisis."
Natalia Knoblock, Associate Professor, Saginaw Valley State University
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Transnational Populism and Global Polarization
Part I: Populist Discourse of Civilization
1. From the Euromaidan to the Russia–Ukraine War: 2013–2022
2. Analyzing Populist Discourses: Contingency, Sedimentation, and Antagonism
3. Zelensky’s Transnational Populism: "Civilized Us" Versus "Barbaric Them"
Part II: Alternative Articulations of the Russia–Ukraine Conflict
4. Ukraine Under External Control
5. Authoritarian Populism in the Name of Democracy
6. The Deadlock of the Peace Treaty
Conclusion. A Road to Peace: Giving Voice to the Silenced
Olga Baysha is Associate Professor in Media and Communication at the National Research University "Higher School of Economics", Moscow, Russia. She earned her MS in Journalism from Colorado State University and PhD in Communication from the University of Colorado Boulder. Previously, she worked as a news reporter and editor in Kharkiv and Kyiv, Ukraine. She is the author of The Mythologies of Capitalism and the End of the Soviet Project (2014), Miscommunicating Social Change: Lessons from Russia and Ukraine (2018), and Democracy, Populism, and Neoliberalism in Ukraine: On the Fringes of the Virtual and the Real (2022).