Buіldіng and breakіng trust іn the government: communіcatіon strategіes of the presіdent of Ukraіne durіng the war and factors of its effectiveness decrease

The article is devoted to identifying the mechanisms of formation and destroying trust in the government by analyzing the relevant communication strategies in the addresses of the President of Ukraine V. Zelenskyi at the beginning of the russian-Ukrainian war (February-November 2022) and the factors that reduced the effectiveness of these strategies over time. To achieve this, the theoretical part of the study analyzes the relationship between trust in government, generalized trust, security, and communication, since in the context of an acute crisis caused by a full-scale invasion, the need for existential security, which, among other things, is ensured by effective government communication, is becoming more and more relevant. From this perspective, a discourse analysis of V. Zelenskyi’s addresses, speeches, and statements was carried out through the identification of the generalized trust words-indicators, the specific topics and senses usage. Analysis revealed a number of communication strategies that helped build trust in the authorities during the analyzed period, namely, the correspondence between the content of the messages and the interests of the community on whose behalf and for whom they were broadcast; appeal to generalized trust through the use of categories that refer to security, reliability, and identity; appeal to pop culture narratives; and boldness in the formal aspects of statements. In order to identify the factors of trust disintegration, the following is an analytical review of the data from quantitative studies of the level of trust in the President of Ukraine and other government institutions. The list of trust disintegration factors includes ‘war fatigue’, the novelty loss by the described pop culture narratives, and a return to the ‘normal’ distribution of trust in the government. The conclusions reflect on the main results and limitations of the study, as well as promising directions for further research on this topic.