Perceived trustworthiness of the narrator: does it matter in strategic narratives?

Trustworthiness of the narrator is a recognised object of study in narratology, yet underrepresented in the studies of strategic narratives. The conceptual framework of strategic narratives lying at the intersection of international relations and political communication focuses on the persuasive power of strategic narratives by analysing the alignment between the formation, projection and reception phases of the life-cycle of the strategic narrative, or the coherence between system, identity and issue narratives. Though studies of perception are recognised as an indivisible part of researching the effect of the strategic narrative, overall the main focus of scholars has been on the perception of contents of the strategic narrative: its clarity of purpose, prospect of success, consistency, resonance in a particular political, socioeconomic and historical context, as well as compliance with certain values and beliefs. Only minor attention has been devoted to the perception about the narrator, and in particular – the fact that the narrator is worthy to trust and reliable. This study aims to fill in the research gap by offering to complement the conceptual framework of strategic narratives with an element of perceived trustworthiness of the narrator. Exploring the contemporary climate change strategic narrative in Latvia – a country with low level political and societal awareness on climate change – the author argues that the persuasive power of the strategic narrative cannot be fully accounted for by looking at the narrative structure, its internal coherence and external convergence. Perceived trustworthiness of the narrator is an essential complementing factor in measuring the persuasive power of the strategic narrative, especially in audiences with low initial trust to the particular narrator.