DISCURSIVE HEGEMONY IN MEDIA NARRATIVES ON THE JUST ENERGY TRANSITION PARTNERSHIP (JETP) – A SOUTH AFRICAN CASE STUDY

Abstract

This study critically analyzes how media in South Africa construct and negotiate discourse surrounding the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) as a hegemonic battleground between the Global North and the Global South. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and the Discursive Hegemonic Mediation (DHM) framework, the research examines seven national media outlets from the period 2022 to 2024, namely Daily Maverick, Mail & Guardian, GroundUp, Africa Energy Portal, eNCA, Eyewitness News, and Africa.com. The study traces how language, narrative framing, and ideological diction mediate power relations between donor countries and domestic actors. The findings show that media function simultaneously as reproducers and challengers of hegemonic discourse. At the textual level, lexical choices such as green colonialism, debt trap, and donor driven agenda represent symbolic resistance to the dominance of the Global North. At the discursive level, independent media construct counter hegemonic narratives grounded in justice and accountability, while corporate media maintain a technocratic tone. At the social level, media discourse transforms passive consent into conditional legitimacy that emphasizes transparency and justice as prerequisites for moral authority. These findings extend Hegemonic Stability Theory by demonstrating that global stability today depends not only on material dominance but also on symbolic and moral legitimacy constructed through public discourse.
Keywords: Just Energy Transition Partnership, Critical Discourse Analysis, Discursive Hegemonic
Mediation, Symbolic Power, Global South