Politics by Numbers: Plato’s Shadows Provide a Ray of Hope?

By |2023-11-29T14:10:29-10:00November 29th, 2023|

By James R. Sullivan, CFA Abstract: The stories that a country tells itself and others help us to understand how that country sees itself, its place in the world, and its ambitions. Sentiment analysis applied to these stories also provides evidence that countries prepare the narrative ground in advance of military action in similar ways as they prepare the physical battleground. This dynamic was especially apparent prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. This paper provides updated sentiment analysis for one ongoing and one potential conflict. Russian sentiment towards Ukraine, as expressed in domestic language media, fell precipitously in [...]