Mediating sovereignty: a comparative latent semantic analysis of US newspapers and conflicts in Kosovo and South Ossetia

Abstract

This article addresses the role of news media in mediating and legitimating sovereignty claims within the nation-state system. Given the performativity of sovereignty claims, the speech acts of political actors require mediation in order to achieve their intent. This mediation occurs through formal channels but requires dissemination via popular media to permeate the public consciousness. Journalistic practices play a key role in the degree to which sovereignty claims are narrated. The authors compare the ways in which US newspapers legitimated (or undermined) sovereignty claims by Kosovo and South Ossetia during their respective conflicts. Their research uses latent semantic analysis to reveal narrative emplotments of various actors in each conflict. The results indicate that, despite the potential to be narrated in similar ways, the Kosovo conflict was narrated as a humanitarian intervention, while the Russian intervention in South Ossetia was narrated as an imperialist intervention linked to larger geopolitical competition.