The Image of the Enemy in the Mass Consciousness of Civilians and the Military in the Russian-Ukrainian War
The Image of the Enemy in the Mass Consciousness of Civilians and the Military in the Russian-Ukrainian War
Thursday, 10 July 2025: 00:00
Location: FSE009 (Faculty of Education Sciences (FSE))
Oral Presentation
The image of the enemy in war plays an important mobilizing role, marks the difference between "us" and "them," and legitimizes actions to destroy the enemy. Mostly, the formation of the image of the enemy is studied "from the outside" through the analysis of the discourse of the mass media and politicians. Our research uses a "from the inside" approach. Its purpose is to determine which image of the enemy was formed in the minds of civilians and military personnel in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The empirical basis for the study is 127 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with groups of civilians and military personnel.
It was found that in the process of transition from a hybrid to a full-scale war, the image of the enemy is transformed through the specification of key actors who represent the public's perception of the enemy: instead of a blurred image of the Enemy country, the images of the Russian government, the Russian population, and the Russian army are differentiated in the minds of the population.
The images of these groups are presented in representations as independent constructs, but their formation is a compatible process in which internally consistent elements are reproduced. Key characteristics that form the core of each of the images: for the Russian authorities - immorality combined with self-centeredness and cruelty; for the image of the population - immorality, cruelty, and lack of agency; for the image of the military - aggressiveness; and immorality The core of the generalized enemy is his personification as an immoral "non-human."
It turned out that the different positions of civilians and military in the confrontation with the enemy and the different experiences of losses due to war do not affect the definition of the key characteristics of the core of the image of the enemy.
It was found that in the process of transition from a hybrid to a full-scale war, the image of the enemy is transformed through the specification of key actors who represent the public's perception of the enemy: instead of a blurred image of the Enemy country, the images of the Russian government, the Russian population, and the Russian army are differentiated in the minds of the population.
The images of these groups are presented in representations as independent constructs, but their formation is a compatible process in which internally consistent elements are reproduced. Key characteristics that form the core of each of the images: for the Russian authorities - immorality combined with self-centeredness and cruelty; for the image of the population - immorality, cruelty, and lack of agency; for the image of the military - aggressiveness; and immorality The core of the generalized enemy is his personification as an immoral "non-human."
It turned out that the different positions of civilians and military in the confrontation with the enemy and the different experiences of losses due to war do not affect the definition of the key characteristics of the core of the image of the enemy.