The limits of contextual resonance: Why Putin’s imperial discourse failed in Ukraine

Abstract This article examines the limits of hegemonic power through an analysis of Vladimir Putin’s discourse on Ukraine. It argues that Russia’s effort to transform narratives of ‘shared history’, ‘fraternity’, and ‘one people’ into consent-oriented influence encountered important limits because Ukrainians increasingly interpreted these narratives through the lens of sovereign political agency and independent political choice rather than through the hierarchical political meanings embedded within Russian imperial discourse. Integrating Michel Foucault’s enunciative function with Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony and common sense, the study develops the concept of contextual resonance to assess how hegemonic projects depend upon the compatibility between political discourse and the political self-understanding of their intended audience. Drawing on qualitative discourse analysis of Putin’s speeches, interviews, essays, and public statements between 2001 and 2022, alongside longitudinal survey data from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology and the Levada Center, the article traces the evolution of Russian discourse from soft-hegemonic appeals to increasingly securitised and coercive narratives. It argues that Russia’s growing reliance on coercion after 2014 progressively exposed the limits of the contextual resonance of Russian imperial discourse within Ukraine as the subordinating political order embedded within Putin’s discourse became increasingly incompatible with Ukraine’s evolving sovereign trajectory.