The invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 has greatly impacted the political environment, especially, around energy and gas imports from Russia. As a country previously highly dependent on Russian gas and the Nord Stream 2 project underway, Germany’s position is particularly interesting. While there is literature on the topic, it lacks the utilization of discourse analysis. To identify discursive changes in the use of language in the German government, official government speeches or statements from the early 2000s and after the Ukraine crisis in 2014 are being analysed. The happenings of 2014 are considered to be the first significant event in the energy relation between Germany and Russia. Both stylistic devices and narratives are being considered in the analysis. The findings show a lack of application of stylistic devices throughout the selected material, wherefore no discursive differentiation can be found. However, general narrative changes can be identified throughout the material and defined time periods, starting with optimism towards economic cooperation with Russia. After the Ukraine crisis, the narrative shifted to a more apprehensive one, while still advocating for the energy imports from Russia. With Russia no longer being a reliable supplier from 2022 on, the narrative finally shifts to negative. In the later material concrete approaches to diversification are also discussed contributing to a narrative that moves away from Russia as a single energy source.

This master’s thesis offers a contribution to the ongoing debate on the utilization of social media by a world leader. It focuses on the role of president Zelensky as a political leader and his online communication in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This study investigates the role of a diplomatic practice in an online environment. An abductive content analysis is used for this research. President Zelensky’s Twitter communication is divided into the categories of Political communication, Anti-Russia discourse and Leadership communication. Tweets of president Zelensky between February 24, 2022, and February 24, 2023, have been used as an empirical material employing the Twitter advanced search. The theoretical perspectives of Diplomacy and Media Ecology are therefore utilized to create an understanding of Zelensky’s communication. The results of the study reveal that president Zelensky incorporates in his Twitter communication different diplomatic concepts that are affected by the current Media Ecology, while traditional diplomatic negotiations are only reported on through his Twitter account, other aspects of modern diplomatic practices, namely Track II Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy are highlighted throughout the tweets.

Bakgrund: Aktiemarknaden reagerar på information och omvärldsförändringar. Prissättningen på aktiemarknaden sker utifrån investerares tro på aktierna och vid oro hos investerare reagerar aktiemarknaden ofta negativt. Investerarnas oro kan skapas av information från kriser, där krisen i sig kan speglas på aktiemarknaden men även investerarnas uppfattning om krisen kan bidra till negativa stängningkurser. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva och analysera relationen mellan globala kriser och aktiemarknaden i Sverige. Metod: För att mäta aktiemarknadens reaktion på kriser används marknadsindex OMX30, OMXSPI tillsammans med nio branschindex. Utifrån dessa har aktiemarknadens volatilitet under kriserna analyserats med hjälp av eventfönster. För att mäta investerares påverkan på aktiemarknaden och hur anpassningsbar den är har effektiva marknadshypotesen tillsammans med teorin beteendeekonomi använts. Studien har formulerat två hypoteser i syfte att analysera om statistiskt signifikant skillnad mellan aktiemarknadens stängningskurser föreligger innan och efter kriserna. Studien analyserade kriserna terrorattacken 11:e september, Finanskrisen 2008, Covid-19-pandemin och Rysslands invasion av Ukraina. Slutsatser: Studiens resultat visade aktiemarknadens volatilitet varit högre utifrån aktieindex efter samtliga kriser. Utifrån branschindex har aktiemarknadens volatilitet varit varierande efter kriserna. Alla kriser studien undersöker har synliggjorts som nedgång på aktieindex och majoriteten av branschindex. Det finns en statistiskt signifikant skillnad mellan aktiemarknadens stängningskurser innan och efter krisen för 36 av 39 marknadsindex. Studien kunde även visa att marknaden återhämtat sig olika snabbt efter kriserna och påverkats av information kring kriserna. / Background: The stock market reacts to information and changes in the environment. Pricing on the stock market takes place based on investors' faith in the shares, and when investors are worried, the stock market often reacts negatively. Investors' concerns can be created by information from crises, where the crisis itself can be reflected on the stock market, but also investors' perception of the crisis can contribute to negative closing prices. Purpose: The purpose of the studies is to describe and analyze the relationship between global crises and the stock market in Sweden. Method: To measure the stock market's reaction to crises, the market index OMX30 and OMXSPI is used together with nine industry indices. Based on these, the volatility of the stock market during the crises has been analyzed using event windows. To measure investors' influence on the stock market and how adaptable it is, the efficient market hypothesis together with the theory of behavioral finance has been used. The study has formulated two hypotheses with the aim of analyzing whether there is a statistically significant difference between the closing prices of the stock market before and after the crises. The study analyzed the crises 9/11 terrorist attack, The financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Conclusions: The results of the study showed that the volatility of the stock market was higher based on the stock index after all the crises. Based on the industry index, the volatility of the stock market has been variable after the crises. All the crises the study examines have been made visible as declines in stock indices and the majority of industry indices. There is a statistically significant difference between stock market closing prices before and after the crisis for 36 out of 39 market indices. The study was also able to show that the market recovered differently quickly after the crises and was influenced by information about the crises.

The exogenous shock that Russia's invasion of Ukraine entailed brought great challenges and demands for change in companies worldwide. Governing under these conditions is not easy, nor is knowing what is actually right to do. There is research on turbulent environments and exogenous shocks, divestments, and legitimacy, but research on the interaction between these is limited. In this study, we examine how companies have responded to exogenous shocks, more specifically how Swedish MNCs have acted and communicated as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The study consists of 69 Swedish MNCs that were active in Russia pre-invasion and their communications and actions as a result of this event, with data drawn from press releases, company reports, state registers and the media. The results show that many of the examined companies have acted in a similar way and divested the Russian market, albeit with varying quickness and forcefulness, thus adopting an approach consistent with what may be considered to be a legitimate strategy, with a few exceptions where the companies' actions has not been as consistent. What this means is that despite the fact that these decisions are made by the respective company management, the measures are generally in line with each other, which may be a result of pressure from both internal and external stakeholders and society at large.

This project investigates Russian nationalist organisations during the invasion of Ukraine, to study their collective identity and practises. It features an ethnography of 26 organisations, their websites and social media. Their content is coded via a semiotic framework, categorising their symbols, images, content posted and other identity tropes. It is then analysed by applying political, sociological and communication theories. The study’s background is the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with its dynamics of war and cultural struggle. The results are that Russian collective identities simplified their communication already by the end of March 2022, abandoning many of the tropes they initially supported, as well as their symbols, limiting themselves to attribute the label of Nazism to Ukraine and its government, avoiding the promotion of frontline volunteer activities and considering Russia’s struggle as global. Finally, most continued to evaluate the invasion of Ukraine as proceeding positively, and at the time half the organisations referred to it as special military operation.