Negotiating Global Uncertainty, Identity, and Europeanization: An Examination of Youth Narrative Processes between Ukraine and the Three Baltic States

In this article, we focus on how young people in epicenters of geopolitical uncertainty negotiate international actors and uncertainty—and thus attest to various visions of the future of the international order. This research analyzes narrative processes between Ukraine and three such international actors (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) with the goal of developing and testing a nuanced methodological and analytical approach to narrative reception among audiences. We find that uncertainty carries both the potential to be creatively “embraced” and limitations on how actors, specifically young people, are able to do so. A lack of consensus on how to cope with uncertainty also makes it difficult to coalesce around such potential. This means that while the potential for actors to renegotiate and project identity narratives exists, it is as yet unrealized.