The justification of war is a central issue in international relations, and the characteristic political response to war is to adopt a story that offers a degree of explanation. Narratives play a central role in garnering public support for wars to be seen as legitimate. Soft power, which includes sociocultural factors such as the state's image, credibility, shared values, and moral authority, also plays a crucial role. In the digital age, with the rise of social media, diplomacy has transformed and become a primary source of news with unparalleled global reach. Consequently, digital diplomacy has become essential for states to communicate their policy objectives directly to their audience through compelling social media narratives, especially during times of war. There have been few studies examining the relationship between soft power, digital diplomacy, and strategic narratives during wartime. This study uses visual narrative analysis (VNA) to address this gap by analysing eight video tweets published by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) during the Israeli-Hamas war from October 7, 2023, and the six months after. The results show that the Israeli MFA used strategic narratives to legitimise the war. Notably, they used visual representations to emphasise Israel’s right to self-defence and its proximity to Western ideals, to garner support. Strategic narratives provide a storytelling which invoke the past to illuminate the present and future and create a shared identity in the context of the Israel-Hamas War.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-529914 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Tegeback, Lisa |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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