Link:

https://virus-project.eu

https://doi.org/10.3030/101276008

Principal investigator:

Dott.ssa Polina Zavershinskaia

Abstract:

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the conflict has been accompanied not only by military violence but by a sustained effort to make that violence appear justified. Russian state actors have consistently framed the invasion as necessary, morally righteous, and even sacred — a defence of Russia’s sovereignty, national identity, and civilisation. Like a virus, this narrative justification has spread well beyond Russia’s borders: illiberal political actors across Europe have acted as carriers, adopting and amplifying similar rhetoric, fuelling domestic polarisation, eroding democratic values, and potentially stimulating political violence within Europe itself.

The VIRUS project directly addresses this challenge. Its name captures a fundamental insight: that narratives justifying violence proliferate when conditions are favourable, mutating as they cross borders, infecting political discourse, and weakening the immune system of democratic societies. Hosted at the Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies (SPGI) of the University of Padova (UNIPD) and funded under the EU's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA, Grant Agreement No. 101276008), VIRUS is conducted by Polina Zavershinskaia under the supervision of Matteo Bassoli and runs for 24 months (June 2026 – May 2028).

Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework from political science, sociology, and social anthropology, VIRUS diagnoses the narrative entrepreneurs and transmission networks spreading these justifications across Russia, Germany, Italy, and Austria, tracing how violence is made to appear legitimate and its observable effects on real-world political violence. It also develops practical antidotes — including a multilingual digital platform (virus-project.eu) — to help researchers, practitioners, and the public recognise and counter violence-endorsing narratives and Russian disinformation.

Obiettivi:

VIRUS pursues two core objectives, combining original theoretical development with rigorous empirical analysis.

SO1: The first objective is to develop a novel, cross-nationally applicable analytical framework for studying how illiberal actors justify violence through narrative. Building on the interdisciplinary synthesis of Civil Sphere Theory, Agonistics Theory, and Mimetic Theory (CST-AT-MT), the project refines this model to make it applicable across both democratic and non-democratic political systems.

SO2: The second objective is to identify and analyse illiberal narrative entrepreneurs — political parties, movements, and influencers — their narrative industries (media platforms, political schools, foundations), and the violence-endorsing narratives they produce and circulate. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is first employed to map the structural links between narrative entrepreneurs and their communication ecosystems, laying the ground for Multilayered Narrative Analysis (MNA), which is then operationalised for systematic cross-national comparison of the narratives themselves. Taking the Russian invasion of Ukraine as its central case, VIRUS traces how Russian illiberal actors frame the invasion as necessary, moral, and sacred, and how their counterparts in Germany, Italy, and Austria receive, adapt, and amplify these narratives. The project examines the relationship between such narratives and observable trends in political violence, and disseminates its findings through academic and public-facing outputs designed to support democratic resilience.

Together, these objectives address a critical gap: moving beyond the mechanics of disinformation to examine how violence is made to appear morally legitimate — and with what consequences for European democracy.

Piano delle attività:

The project is organised across five interconnected strands.

The first phase, ‘Research Framework’, establishes the theoretical and methodological foundations, refining the analytical framework and preparing the project’s data management infrastructure. This is followed by an intensive ‘Data Mapping’ phase, in which narrative entrepreneurs, their industries, and the connections between them are identified across the four countries and organised into open-access datasets.

The empirical analysis and dissemination activities then run in parallel. The ‘Academic Dissemination’ strand encompasses the submission of peer-reviewed articles and a monograph proposal, presentations at international conferences, expert talks, student seminars, and a final international conference at SPGI. The ‘Public Engagement’ strand centres on the launch and ongoing development of the multilingual VIRUS website, complemented by op-eds, podcasts, stakeholder workshops, and presentations at public events.

Throughout the project’s duration, a dedicated ‘Career Development’ strand supports the researcher’s training, teaching activities, and longer-term academic trajectory.

Contatti:

polina.zavershinskaia@unipd.it

matteo.bassoli@unipd.it