Constructing peace in European media 1710-1721

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The research project aims to scrutinize discoursive and semantic constructions of peace by analyzing theeuropean press during the peace negotiations between 1710 and 1721. The european orders of peaceemerging in the Treaties from Utrecht to Nystad are not only characterized by diplomatic and power politicalalterations ("balance of power") but also by new semantics and narratives of peace. They have developed inthe close intertwining of diplomacy and press which became from 1700 on a core media of peace negotiations.The analysis is based on a synopsis of the conflicts of the War of Spanish succession and the Great Northern War which are usually treated separately in terms of international law. Thus, the close intertwining of political agents, public perseption and diplomatic attemps of conflict solution can be shown in its mutuality.It is this perspective that allows to comprehend construction and perception of a powerful, transeurope political language of peace in its social, agent-related conditionality and communicative entanglement.Since both conflicts were negotiated in the Netherlands simultaneously, their specific semantics of peace canbe examined in the highly influential frenchspeaking Dutch press on the one hand as well as in the reception inthe french, german and swedish press. By choosing these media landscapes it is possible to srutinize theimplementation, transformation and translation of a "new language" of peace into different "national" politicalcultures - beyond the narrow scope of diplomatic actors. Only comprehensively successful narratives of peacecould take politically full effect in stabilizing social and political orders and generating meaning.A special focus will be put on the emergence of specific semantic formations in the interactions between diplomats and press correspondents in the negotiation cities.