THE CONCEPT OF EURASIANISM IN GERMAN POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

The Eurasian direction of politics provides the basis for many studies, including political linguistics. The objective of the article is to describe the role of the phenomenon of Eurasianism in German political discourse through the disclosure of its conceptualization features. The research material is publications of traditional and alternative German media, as well as articles of a socio-political, philosophical and popular science nature devoted to the topic of Eurasianism. The main research methods, such as lexical, semantic, contextual and discursive analysis, help to determine the dominant way of lexicalization of the Eurasianism concept in German, behind which there is a culturally specific way of conceptualization. The linguacultural approach makes it possible to connect the obtained data with the semiosphere, the space in which the semiotic and cultural experience of the Germans, their understanding of reality and the political situation is encrypted. The conceptual difference between the understanding of Eurasianism by German publicists compared to the Russian-centric nature of the Russian-speaking Eurasian discourse lies in considering the Eurasian Economic Union in the same context as the European Union and in contrasting Eurasianism with Western values. The general vector of alternative media is characterized by a more balanced position in relation to the Eurasian idea and the Eurasian Economic Union than the mainstream. The predominance of the mainstream as a source of information shows the semantic connections of the concept of “Eurasianism” with the concepts of “right-wing extremism”, “fascism”, “imperialism”, while sources alternative to the official media demonstrate a different arrangement of concepts relative to each other within an individual conceptual field, in this case, Eurasianism is revealed as the ideological basis of territorial community and strategic partnership. In conclusion, it is concluded that in the process of conceptualizing Eurasianism in the German language, the emotional component prevails over the rational content. The cognitive accessibility of an “alien” (not basic for one’s own culture) concept depends not only on the degree of obviousness of meanings, but also on the readiness to comprehend them and a relatively impartial interpretation.