political narratives

We tell ourselves that we're different:
Jay Doubleyou: exceptionalism today

A lot of this is fantasy:
Jay Doubleyou: brexit, fantasy and boris

And we can write our own stories:
Jay Doubleyou: how history is being rewritten today

For example:

'Welcome to the Monkey House': How Politics Becomes a Reality Show

Donald Trump is a presidential candidate, and, whether you love him or hate him, he makes for great television. At the same time, some of the highest-grossing shows in the U.S. are about the “real world” of politics: House of Cards, Veep, Madame Secretary, The Good Wife, etc. “News” channels like FOX, CNN, and NBC have celebrity guests, colorful personalities, skits, explosive graphics, and all manner of attempts to be “entertaining.” Millennials get their news fix from The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and Last Week Tonight more than anywhere else. For a while now, it seems, the world of politics has become another lucrative piece of the entertainment industry. 

The real question is: is this all just an act, hiding the reality of what goes on “behind the scenes,” or, is the act the reality? With cameras and smartphones everywhere, with social media and the 24-hr news cycle, is anything behind the scenes? Is there any distinction between politics and political theater? And what about us—the viewers, the consumers—what role do we play in all of this?

Welcome to the Monkey House: Teaching the 2016 Election in a Literature Course - Electric Literature
(PDF) 'Welcome to the Monkey House': How Politics Becomes a Reality Show (Syllabus) | Maximillian Alvarez - Academia.edu

There are some parts of the world which are full of stories:
Jay Doubleyou: a journey through the balkans

But how do we 'frame' stories?
Jay Doubleyou: story telling: creating narratives around climate change
Jay Doubleyou: story-telling: creating narratives around money and debt
Jay Doubleyou: story-telling: the art of framing

And it often becomes a matter of 'propaganda':
Jay Doubleyou: english language media as propaganda in the ukraine
Jay Doubleyou: propaganda, public relations and manufacturing consent
Jay Doubleyou: information wars
Jay Doubleyou: how is world war one seen in different countries

Here's a look at the latest ideas around 'political narratives':

It’s Time to Kill Our Political Narratives

It has become nearly impossible to have a real political discussion. Perhaps you’ve noticed this.

The reason, I think, is that the issues of our day have become scripted into canonical narratives that leave no room to address or, even, to raise the hard questions that do not fit the script. And we have substituted these competing narratives for ideas and arguments.

It is often said that we need to listen more to each other’s stories so that we can see where others are coming from. But I propose that the solution is actually that we do less listening. And that’s because the standard narratives are dead ends that obscure issues. We cannot really avoid these narratives, but familiarity with them allows us to see how they undermine themselves.

It’s Time to Kill Our Political Narratives

STORYTELLING AND POLITICS: HOW HISTORY, MYTHS AND NARRATIVES DRIVE OUR DECISIONS

Mark Laity said narrative has the ability to influence decision making, and logical argument is the least effective method to convince the public of your argument.

Mr Laity is a former BBC defence correspondent and now head of Strategic Communications at NATO’s military headquarters. Using examples from the US gun lobby and the conflict in Ukraine, Mr Laity showed how appeals to shared history can drown out logical argument.

A narrative with historical overtones, an emotive connection and credibility not only convinces people, it frames the points of reference they use to evaluate the decision they are being asked to make.

We are storytelling creatures, Laity said, the proper response to fake news and social media bubbles (“a self-licking lollipop”) is not to despair, but to get better at using facts to tell an emotionally credible story.

Storytelling and Politics: How History, Myths and Narratives Drive Our Decisions | The Political Studies Association (PSA)

And in the news...

In India/Pakistan:
The Dueling Narratives of India’s Kashmir Crackdown - The Atlantic
Kashmir: War of narratives & Diplomacy through Twitter - Global Village Space

In the USA:
Mass Shootings Aren't Becoming More Common–and Evidence Contradicts Stereotypes about the Shooters - Foundation for Economic Education

In the Middle East:
Saudi Arabia and the UAE Fund Academia with Strings Attached – LobeLog

In Eastern Europe:
Bulgaria Scolds Russian Narrative On Soviet Role In Liberating Europe

In China:
Asia Times | Competing narratives on Hong Kong | Article

In Germany:
Five things to know about the AfD surge in German regional elections - The Local
Lingering divide: why east and west Germany are drifting apart | Financial Times

In the UK:

UK has higher level of regional inequality than any other large wealthy country

In November 2018, the fact-checking organisation Fullfact argued that the UK has only average levels of interregional inequality – a misleading narrative that was proliferated by high-profile journalists.

Professor McCann ... urged politicians and the media to gain a stronger understanding of regional science and overcome inaccurate narratives, in order to address this ‘geography of discontent’.

“The dominant media narrative explaining the UK’s geography of discontent – or why Brexit supporters are concentrated in certain areas – has come to focus on inequalities between cities and towns, rather than between regions. This is total nonsense.

“Wide-ranging evidence suggests that the UK almost certainly has the highest level of regional inequality of any large wealthy country in the world. In many ways, the economic geography of the UK is reminiscent of a much poorer country at an earlier stage of economic development.

“Major differences in local productivity are a primary source of the geography of discontent and they are also a challenge to a country’s institutional and governance structures. It is likely that the enormous imbalances within the UK are heavily related to the over-centralised national governance system.

“Significant devolution and decentralisation of power should be a key priority for helping to counter the geography of discontent. It’s essential that those in power use regional science to improve their understanding of regional economic realities and overcome inaccurate national media and political narratives."

University of Sheffield study shows UK has the worst regional inequality
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