Post-colonial solidarity? Estonia’s support for Ukraine: a critical discourse analysis

Abstract

Ever since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Estonia has been a strong supporter of Ukraine. While much of the support can be explained by shared security concerns, the security dimension doesn’t thoroughly explain the vast moral support. This thesis seeks to discover which discourses were used by Estonian officials to show solidarity towards Ukraine. Using Critical Discourse Analysis on officials’ speeches and addresses between February 2022 and March 2026, the thesis uses postcolonial theory to analyze different discourses of support. In addition, the thesis seeks to answer what discourses were used to explain the root causes of Russian aggression and how a friendship was created between Estonia and Ukraine. Postcolonial solidarity was exhibited through four discourses. Those discourses emphasized the consequence of the war, helped Ukraine seek justice, created solidarity through presenting the war as colonial and made a call for support from other actors. Three discourses provided explanations for the root causes of the war: Russian need to eliminate democratic Ukraine, the domestic dimension of Russian society and politics, and inherent evilness of Russia. Postcolonial friendship was exhibited through four discourses. Those sought to integrate Ukraine into NATO and the EU, showed how the war had united other states with Ukraine, showed the closeness between Estonia and Ukraine but also actively excluded Russia to create unity between other states and Ukraine.