Polarisation through deviation discourse: strategic usage of Europeanisation by political and media actors in Georgia

Abstract

This paper questions how political and media actors instrumentalise the Europeanisation discourse as a major mechanism of polarisation in Georgia. For this purpose, we link the three “logics of action” related to the strategic usage of Europeanisation with “interpretative” and “positional” aspects of affective polarisation. We address the subject matter through the triangulation of quantitative and qualitative research methods. The findings reveal that the discourse of deviation from the European course has been shaping both political and media polarisation in Georgia since 2021. By enacting respective blame games, political and media actors from the governmental and oppositional camps have reinforced affective polarisation in Georgia.