This article explores how the COVID-19 pandemic was translated into local micro-events through the initial statements of 29 leading political actors across four continents. Using a socio-cognitive approach to critical discourse analysis, informed by argumentation theory and nationalism studies, the researchers analyzed the discursive constructions of solidarity and nationalism, focusing on the representation of in-, out-, and affiliated groups. Leaders constructed the virus as the main outgroup, employing metaphors of pandemic-as-war and pandemic-as-movement. Speeches emphasized a vertical solidarity based on nationhood, exclusionary solidarity against rule-breakers, horizontal solidarity within families and across generations, and transnational solidarity. While there was consensus on constructing the virus as an outgroup, the construction of in-groups and affiliated groups varied depending on context and discursive practices.

Martina Berrocal, Michael Kranert, Paola Attolino, Júlio Antonio Bonatti Santos, Sara Garcia Santamarias, Nancy Henaku, Aimée Danielle Lezou Koffi, Camilla Marziani, Viktorija Mažeikienė, Dasniel Olivera Pérez, Kumaran Rajandran, Aleksandra Salamurović