Populism and the aesthetics of security: the case of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has championed Ukraine’s identity as a brave democracy fighting an authoritarian aggressor, combining passionate, informal communication with strategic humour in framing security issues. This chapter examines the relationship between populism, security and aesthetics through Zelenskyy’s wartime leadership, proposing a contextualist approach that recognises how populist actors adapt their securitisation styles to specific circumstances. I argue that populist leaders tend to perform security narratives in a way that resonates with those who feel marginalised not only in local but also in global politics. By embodying Ukraine as an empowered political actor rather than a passive victim, Zelenskyy challenges traditional power dynamics where smaller nations become mere pawns in great power relations. This chapter advances International Relations scholarship on populism by exploring how populist leaders can reshape global political aesthetics and potentially transform existing hierarchies through their securitising performances.