Description
Ontological security studies has tended to focus on states’ attempts to maintain stable self-narratives through definition against an external other. More recently, the concept of vicarious identification has been applied to international relations to understand how self-narratives are upheld through the identification of shared values and characteristics in friendly states. It is believed that differing foreign policy responses of states to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine can be explained through the conceptual lens of vicarious identification. Consequently, I undertake a comprehensive comparison of British, German, and Latvian foreign policy discourse from the initial months of the invasion. Firstly, I survey the development of British, German, and Latvian historical memory to determine Lacanian master signifiers of national identity and their influence on foreign policy. Then, I analyse official British, German, and Latvian foreign policy discourse to compare how master signifiers relate to vicarious identification with Ukraine. It was found that British and Latvian foreign policy actors expressed vicarious identification with Ukraine to uphold established narratives of national identity. In contrast, due to key axioms of national identity being challenged by the invasion, German foreign policy actors sought to induce vicarious identification with Ukraine to help justify a reformulation of Germany’s foreign policy through the concept of Zeitenwende (a change in times). The results of this study shed further light on the mechanisms through which self-narratives are able to adapt to geopolitical shocks in order to maintain a stable sense of self.
