Alexander Spencer
Biographic Data
| ID | 3688092 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexander Spencer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexander |
| FAMILY NAME | Spencer |
| SIGNATURE | SPENCER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9235-353X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 202 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 35 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Internal Displacement and the Framing of Ins Urgency: A Predicate Analysis of Media Reporting on Boko Haram in Nigeria
Research on the connection between insurgency and internal displacement either considers a direct link between the two phenomena where one leads to the other or an indirect connection in which insurgency contributes to the creation of a certain environment which is then conducive to internal displacement. This research note is predominantly interested in the later and focuses specifically on the role of media reporting on insurgency. It calls for…
No relief from war: The use of humour in memes by the government of Ukraine and the limitation of laughter
The article is interested in the role of humour employed in memes on X by the government of Ukraine in the war following the invasion by Russia in 2022. It brings insights from cultural and humour studies as well as psychology into politics and shows how and what kind of humour the government around President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a professional comedian, uses in their meme communication via social media in order to communicate with the public, se…
Russian warship, go fuck yourself’: Romantic narratives of the hero in the war of Ukraine
In times of war, ‘heroes’ play a key role. The romantic construction of the ‘heroes’ that defend a righteous cause against a more powerful and unjust enemy often serves as a means to legitimise political narratives and violent actions. The iconic phrase ‘Russian warship, go fuck yourself!’ uttered by a Ukrainian border guard during an imminent Russian attack on Snake Island in February 2022 became a globally known symbol of heroism and resistance…
Laughing at Failure or Failing to Laugh: Humour as a Strategy for Dealing With Foreign Policy Failure
The paper considers the role of humour in dealing with failure in foreign policy and brings insights together from the studies of policy failure, humour studies, customer service management and crisis communication. It investigates how research in customer service management and crisis communication points to the use of humour as an additional strategy for dealing with foreign policy failure. This research has provided valuable insights into the …
(Un)Funny Against All Odds: The Changing Landscape of Humour in Politics
The article wants to set the stage for the rest of the special issue titled ‘From resistance to legitimation: The changing role of humour in politics’ by providing an overview of some the key concepts, theories and approaches to humour. It begins by considering different concepts of and some of the theoretical approaches to the functions and implications of humour including relief, superiority and incongruity as well as carnival theory and the ro…
Narrative Analysis
The chapter outlines the possibilities, merits, and limits of narrative analysis as a method in Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA). It argues that narratives play an essential role in the construction of politics in general and foreign policy in particular. Narratives are central in situations in which behavior and decisions need to be explained and justified in front of an audience. The chapter gives an overview of the existing literature on narrativ…
Kurdish Narratives of Conflict: The Politics of the Kurdish Question in Turkish Cinema
Although there has been a considerable amount of research on the Kurdish Question in general, so far, little attention has been given to the relationship between the Kurdish Question and its depiction and constitution in film. The study of films offers insights into how aesthetics inform, determine, enable, and naturalize specific interpretations and actions. This article sees films as narratives and will employ a narrative analysis method that e…
Einleitung zum Forum: Die Corona-Pandemie – Konflikt und Frieden in einer veränderten Welt
Einleitung zum Forum: „Evaluation der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung durch den Wissenschaftsrat“
Just a bit of fun: The camouflaging and defending functions of humour in recruitment videos of the British and Swedish armed forces
This article contributes to the growing literature regarding humor in international politics, focusing on satirical and comedic narratives in the recruitment videos of the British and Swedish armed forces. Although these official recruitment videos – published on each militaries’ respective YouTube channel – are, perhaps surprisingly, often funny and entertaining, there is little research on the roles, functions and employment of humour by actors…
Visualizing Peace – The State of the Art
Moving Images: Visual Metaphors of Peace in the Movie Mango Dreams
Visual metaphors stand at the border between text and image, as they are linguistic figures that visualize the spoken. Based on this assumption and on the existing knowledge on the discourse analytical method of metaphor analysis, Part One of the article develops a method of visual metaphor analysis (VMA). Part Two uses this method to examine the metaphors of peace found in the acclaimed movie Mango Dreams , the winner of the Peace on Earth Film …
Heroes welcome: An exceptional story of ‘good’ refugees in the German tabloid discourse
An increased number of refugees entering Germany between 2015 and 2017 has resulted in a fierce political debate on the potentials and dangers of increased immigration and the meaning of ‘refugees’ in the country. So far, most studies on the social construction of the ‘refugee’ either have focused on the linkage between immigration and threats, such as terrorism, or examined the process of constituting the ‘refugee’ as a passive victim without ag…
Narrative genres of Brexit: The Leave campaign and the success of romance
This article argues that the Leave narrative was successful in the 2016 referendum in part because it conformed to one of the well-established narrative genres of tragedy, comedy, satire and romance. These genres are story telling conventions that orientate audiences and guide the interpretation of the story being told. Specifically, the article shows that the Leave campaign constructed a largely consistent romantic narrative, while the Remain ca…
Once upon a time: Western genres and narrative constructions of a romantic jihad
The article examines the romantic narratives told by the “Islamic State” in the propaganda online videos of foreign fighters. Employing a method of narrative analysis, based on insight from Literary Studies and Narratology, it holds that while narratives of jihad differ to “war on terror” narratives told in the West with regard to their content, narratives of jihad employ a very western romantic genre style. Focusing on the narrative elements of …
Political Mistakes and Policy Failures in International Relations
Introduction: Mistakes and Failures in International Relations
Narratives and the romantic genre in IR: Dominant and marginalized stories of Arab Rebellion in Libya
Narrating success and failure: Congressional debates on the ‘Iran nuclear deal
This article applies a method of narrative analysis to investigate the discursive contestation over the ‘Iran nuclear deal’ in the US. Specifically, it explores the struggle in the US Congress between narratives constituting the deal as a US foreign policy success or failure. The article argues that foreign policy successes and failures are socially constructed through narratives and suggests how narrative analysis as a discourse-analytical metho…
Trump, Brexit & “Post-Truth: How Post-Structuralist IR Theories can help us understand World Order in the 21st century
Images, visions and narrative identity formation of Isis: A reply
This is a reply to:Heck, Axel. 2017. “Images, visions and narrative identity formation of ISIS.” Global Discourse. 7 (2–3): 244–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2017.1342490
Romantic Narratives in International Politics: Pirates, Rebels and Mercenaries
Romantic narratives in international politics: Pirates, rebels and mercenaries
Introducing insights from literary studies and narratology into international relations, this study examines the romantic narratives of pirates in Somalia, rebels in Libya and private military and security companies in Iraq
Fiascos in Public Policy and Foreign Policy
Studying fiascos: Bringing Public and Foreign Policy Together
Video abstractRead the transcriptWatch the video on Vimeo Video abstractRead the transcriptWatch the video on Vimeo
The Metaphor of Terror: Terrorism Studies and the Constructivist Turn
Terrorism studies is fascinated with the terrorist actor. Though this may seem natural, the present article argues that a different perspective can be fruitful. From a constructivist point of view, terrorism is a social construction. The terrorist actor is a product of discourse, and hence discourse is the logical starting point for terrorism research. In particular, it is the discourse of the terrorists' adversaries that constitutes terrorist mo…
Telling stories of failure: Narrative Constructions of Foreign Policy Fiascos
The contribution introduces narrative analysis as a discourse analytical method for investigating the social construction of foreign policy fiascos. Based on insights from literary studies and narratology it shows that stories of failure include a number of key elements, including a particular setting which defines appropriate behaviour; the negative characterization of agents; as well as an emplotment of the ‘fiasco’ through the attribution of c…
The social construction of terrorism: Media, metaphors and policy implications
Narrative genres of Brexit: The Leave campaign and the success of romance
This article argues that the Leave narrative was successful in the 2016 referendum in part because it conformed to one of the well-established narrative genres of tragedy, comedy, satire and romance. These genres are story telling conventions that orientate audiences and guide the interpretation of the story being told. Specifically, the article shows that the Leave campaign constructed a largely consistent romantic narrative, while the Remain ca…
Just a bit of fun: The camouflaging and defending functions of humour in recruitment videos of the British and Swedish armed forces
This article contributes to the growing literature regarding humor in international politics, focusing on satirical and comedic narratives in the recruitment videos of the British and Swedish armed forces. Although these official recruitment videos – published on each militaries’ respective YouTube channel – are, perhaps surprisingly, often funny and entertaining, there is little research on the roles, functions and employment of humour by actors…
Narrating success and failure: Congressional debates on the ‘Iran nuclear deal
This article applies a method of narrative analysis to investigate the discursive contestation over the ‘Iran nuclear deal’ in the US. Specifically, it explores the struggle in the US Congress between narratives constituting the deal as a US foreign policy success or failure. The article argues that foreign policy successes and failures are socially constructed through narratives and suggests how narrative analysis as a discourse-analytical metho…
Thinking Alike? Salience and Metaphor Analysis as Cognitive Approaches to Foreign Policy Analysis: Thinking Alike? Salience and Metaphor Analysis
The article brings together two cognitive approaches to the analysis of foreign policy: salience and metaphor analysis. Issue salience and metaphors relate to cognitive heuristics that speak to different aspects of the cognitive representation of foreign policy problems which complement each other: the concept of salience looks at the priming of issues in the foreign policymaking environment; metaphors relate to the framing of these issues. The a…
Studying fiascos: Bringing Public and Foreign Policy Together
Video abstractRead the transcriptWatch the video on Vimeo Video abstractRead the transcriptWatch the video on Vimeo
(Un)Funny Against All Odds: The Changing Landscape of Humour in Politics
The article wants to set the stage for the rest of the special issue titled ‘From resistance to legitimation: The changing role of humour in politics’ by providing an overview of some the key concepts, theories and approaches to humour. It begins by considering different concepts of and some of the theoretical approaches to the functions and implications of humour including relief, superiority and incongruity as well as carnival theory and the ro…
Laughing at Failure or Failing to Laugh: Humour as a Strategy for Dealing With Foreign Policy Failure
The paper considers the role of humour in dealing with failure in foreign policy and brings insights together from the studies of policy failure, humour studies, customer service management and crisis communication. It investigates how research in customer service management and crisis communication points to the use of humour as an additional strategy for dealing with foreign policy failure. This research has provided valuable insights into the …
De-antagonising the Other: Changing Constructions of the Taliban and the Possibility of Reconciliation
Shortly after 9/11 any kind of engagement, let alone reconciliation, with the Taliban was considered absurd. Recently, however, Afghan as well as Western elites have announced that they are now willing to talk to parts of the Taliban in an attempt to begin a reconciliation process in Afghanistan. This article focuses on the discourse theoretical framework developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and illustrates the merits of such an approac…
Heroes welcome: An exceptional story of ‘good’ refugees in the German tabloid discourse
An increased number of refugees entering Germany between 2015 and 2017 has resulted in a fierce political debate on the potentials and dangers of increased immigration and the meaning of ‘refugees’ in the country. So far, most studies on the social construction of the ‘refugee’ either have focused on the linkage between immigration and threats, such as terrorism, or examined the process of constituting the ‘refugee’ as a passive victim without ag…
Once upon a time: Western genres and narrative constructions of a romantic jihad
The article examines the romantic narratives told by the “Islamic State” in the propaganda online videos of foreign fighters. Employing a method of narrative analysis, based on insight from Literary Studies and Narratology, it holds that while narratives of jihad differ to “war on terror” narratives told in the West with regard to their content, narratives of jihad employ a very western romantic genre style. Focusing on the narrative elements of …
Narratives and the romantic genre in IR: Dominant and marginalized stories of Arab Rebellion in Libya
Trump, Brexit & “Post-Truth: How Post-Structuralist IR Theories can help us understand World Order in the 21st century
Romantic Stories of the Pirate in IARRRH: The Failure of Linking Piracy and Terrorism Narratives in Germany
The article examines the attempt by some academics, think tanks, and policy advisers to discursively link the threat of contemporary maritime piracy with terrorism. While a linkage between certain threats such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, failed states, or money laundering and terrorism has been successful, the effort to connect the notion of maritime piracy and terrorism has failed to reach the discourse of the media and …
Reconciliation With Al Qaeda
Sic[k] of the ‘new terrorism’ debate? A response to our critics
Apart from the great debates on the definition of terrorism or its causes, the discussion about whether ‘new terrorism’ can really be considered new or not has become one of the central disagreements in terrorism research. This article will respond to the criticism voiced by some of the proponents of the ‘new terrorism’ idea and reflect on the merits of their arguments. It will emphasis the importance of words and the implication of small predica…
Russian warship, go fuck yourself’: Romantic narratives of the hero in the war of Ukraine
In times of war, ‘heroes’ play a key role. The romantic construction of the ‘heroes’ that defend a righteous cause against a more powerful and unjust enemy often serves as a means to legitimise political narratives and violent actions. The iconic phrase ‘Russian warship, go fuck yourself!’ uttered by a Ukrainian border guard during an imminent Russian attack on Snake Island in February 2022 became a globally known symbol of heroism and resistance…
Visualizing Peace – The State of the Art
Contested stories of commercial security: Self- And Media Narratives of Private Military and Security Companies
The article illustrates the potential of narrative analysis as a transdisciplinary method for Critical Security Studies by investigating self-legitimizing narratives of private military and security companies (PMSCs) and contrasting them to the narratives on PMSCs found in the news media. Employing narrative analysis and focusing on the websites of 55 PMSCs and 4 quality US and British newspapers, we reconstruct how PMSCs and the media establish …
The Metaphor of Terror: Terrorism Studies and the Constructivist Turn
Terrorism studies is fascinated with the terrorist actor. Though this may seem natural, the present article argues that a different perspective can be fruitful. From a constructivist point of view, terrorism is a social construction. The terrorist actor is a product of discourse, and hence discourse is the logical starting point for terrorism research. In particular, it is the discourse of the terrorists' adversaries that constitutes terrorist mo…
The Tabloid Terrorist: The Predicative Construction of New Terrorism in the Media
This book introduces a constructivist approach to the study of terrorism and shows how language in the media affects our perceptions of 'terrorists' and how particular constructions of 'terrorist' aut
Terrorismusforschung in Deutschland: [Sonderheft 01/2011 der Zeitschrift fu r Au©en- und Sicherheitspolitik]
Sic[k] of the ‘new terrorism’ debate? A response to our critics
Apart from the great debates on the definition of terrorism or its causes, the discussion about whether ‘new terrorism’ can really be considered new or not has become one of the central disagreements in terrorism research. This article will respond to the criticism voiced by some of the proponents of the ‘new terrorism’ idea and reflect on the merits of their arguments. It will emphasis the importance of words and the implication of small predica…
Thinking Alike? Salience and Metaphor Analysis as Cognitive Approaches to Foreign Policy Analysis: Thinking Alike? Salience and Metaphor Analysis
The article brings together two cognitive approaches to the analysis of foreign policy: salience and metaphor analysis. Issue salience and metaphors relate to cognitive heuristics that speak to different aspects of the cognitive representation of foreign policy problems which complement each other: the concept of salience looks at the priming of issues in the foreign policymaking environment; metaphors relate to the framing of these issues. The a…
The social construction of terrorism: Media, metaphors and policy implications
Reconciliation With Al Qaeda
Romantic Stories of the Pirate in IARRRH: The Failure of Linking Piracy and Terrorism Narratives in Germany
The article examines the attempt by some academics, think tanks, and policy advisers to discursively link the threat of contemporary maritime piracy with terrorism. While a linkage between certain threats such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, failed states, or money laundering and terrorism has been successful, the effort to connect the notion of maritime piracy and terrorism has failed to reach the discourse of the media and …
De-antagonising the Other: Changing Constructions of the Taliban and the Possibility of Reconciliation
Shortly after 9/11 any kind of engagement, let alone reconciliation, with the Taliban was considered absurd. Recently, however, Afghan as well as Western elites have announced that they are now willing to talk to parts of the Taliban in an attempt to begin a reconciliation process in Afghanistan. This article focuses on the discourse theoretical framework developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and illustrates the merits of such an approac…
Reconciliation after Terrorism: Strategy, Possibility or Absurdity
Contested stories of commercial security: Self- And Media Narratives of Private Military and Security Companies
The article illustrates the potential of narrative analysis as a transdisciplinary method for Critical Security Studies by investigating self-legitimizing narratives of private military and security companies (PMSCs) and contrasting them to the narratives on PMSCs found in the news media. Employing narrative analysis and focusing on the websites of 55 PMSCs and 4 quality US and British newspapers, we reconstruct how PMSCs and the media establish …
Romantic Narratives in International Politics: Pirates, Rebels and Mercenaries
Romantic narratives in international politics: Pirates, rebels and mercenaries
Introducing insights from literary studies and narratology into international relations, this study examines the romantic narratives of pirates in Somalia, rebels in Libya and private military and security companies in Iraq
Fiascos in Public Policy and Foreign Policy
Studying fiascos: Bringing Public and Foreign Policy Together
Video abstractRead the transcriptWatch the video on Vimeo Video abstractRead the transcriptWatch the video on Vimeo
Telling stories of failure: Narrative Constructions of Foreign Policy Fiascos
The contribution introduces narrative analysis as a discourse analytical method for investigating the social construction of foreign policy fiascos. Based on insights from literary studies and narratology it shows that stories of failure include a number of key elements, including a particular setting which defines appropriate behaviour; the negative characterization of agents; as well as an emplotment of the ‘fiasco’ through the attribution of c…
Images, visions and narrative identity formation of Isis: A reply
This is a reply to:Heck, Axel. 2017. “Images, visions and narrative identity formation of ISIS.” Global Discourse. 7 (2–3): 244–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2017.1342490
Political Mistakes and Policy Failures in International Relations
Introduction: Mistakes and Failures in International Relations
Narratives and the romantic genre in IR: Dominant and marginalized stories of Arab Rebellion in Libya
Narrating success and failure: Congressional debates on the ‘Iran nuclear deal
This article applies a method of narrative analysis to investigate the discursive contestation over the ‘Iran nuclear deal’ in the US. Specifically, it explores the struggle in the US Congress between narratives constituting the deal as a US foreign policy success or failure. The article argues that foreign policy successes and failures are socially constructed through narratives and suggests how narrative analysis as a discourse-analytical metho…
Trump, Brexit & “Post-Truth: How Post-Structuralist IR Theories can help us understand World Order in the 21st century
Heroes welcome: An exceptional story of ‘good’ refugees in the German tabloid discourse
An increased number of refugees entering Germany between 2015 and 2017 has resulted in a fierce political debate on the potentials and dangers of increased immigration and the meaning of ‘refugees’ in the country. So far, most studies on the social construction of the ‘refugee’ either have focused on the linkage between immigration and threats, such as terrorism, or examined the process of constituting the ‘refugee’ as a passive victim without ag…
Narrative genres of Brexit: The Leave campaign and the success of romance
This article argues that the Leave narrative was successful in the 2016 referendum in part because it conformed to one of the well-established narrative genres of tragedy, comedy, satire and romance. These genres are story telling conventions that orientate audiences and guide the interpretation of the story being told. Specifically, the article shows that the Leave campaign constructed a largely consistent romantic narrative, while the Remain ca…
Once upon a time: Western genres and narrative constructions of a romantic jihad
The article examines the romantic narratives told by the “Islamic State” in the propaganda online videos of foreign fighters. Employing a method of narrative analysis, based on insight from Literary Studies and Narratology, it holds that while narratives of jihad differ to “war on terror” narratives told in the West with regard to their content, narratives of jihad employ a very western romantic genre style. Focusing on the narrative elements of …
Political science (27 works) · Sociology (24 works) · Law (20 works) · Law (19 works) · Politics (15 works) · Narrative (13 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Literature (12 works) · Art (11 works) · Philosophy (11 works)