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Этот текст – попытка рассмотреть и обобщить отношение к России со стороны Запада, а также рассказать о том, какие усилия Россия предпринимает для преодоления негативных стереотипов, сложившихся о ней на Западе. Написан в рамках курса о стереотипах.
This text is an attempt to have a look at and generalize the West’s attitude to Russia as well as to tell about Russia’s to overcome the western negative stereotypes about it. It was written for the Stereotypes course.
Russia on its way to the positive image abroad
by Alexander Smotrov
aleksmot@yandex.ru
After the cold war had come to the end and the iron curtain between the West and the Soviet Union had fallen, the people from the both camps recognized that they knew very little about each other and the knowledge they have was full of myths and stereotypes. The image of enemy was stuck in the heads of the people by propaganda and media.
Now the situation in Russia is much more different than ten years ago, but the stereotypes about the Russians and their country are still in general the same as they were during the Soviet era. The recent years have brought the new stereotypes about new Russia to the West. Now Russia is described not only as a country of bears, vodka, ballet and icons, but also as a country of mafia, corruption, dirty money, criminality and again vodka. If we watch such American films as Eraser, Air Force One, The Peacemaker and others – we will see that all of them depict Russians as stereotypical monster characters of Mafiosi, who can’t be trusted.
It doesn’t matter if the devil is so awful as it is painted, but Russia faces these opinions every time when our politicians or businessmen deal with their western colleagues.
According to the public opinion polls, done by Gallup institute and NBC network in February 2001, 52 per cent of Americans have a positive attitude toward Russia, and 55 per cent think that the US should continue financial aid to Russia. But a group of Russian political and economic analysts from the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy pointed out in their report “The international image of Russia and Russian business community” that only about 17 per cent of all publications and opinions in the western media can be regarded as positive and realistic in reporting Russia’s transition to the market economy and successes of individual industries or businesses.
The major lines of criticism of Russia from the West are as follows:
- Russian democracy fails to meet Western standards
- Russia is still far from the Western ideal of transparent economy, stable legislation, attractive tax system and developed infrastructure
- Russia hasn’t given up countering the West but hasn’t turned down its aid at the same time
- Russia is a society ridden with crime and permeated by corruption
The media attack on Russia may intensify in the coming years, since the political and economic recovery of the country will clearly run counter to the interests of many foreign partners. Developed countries have also formed a set of negative stereotypes about Russia seriously affecting public opinion with respect to Russia. Here are the major of them:
- the stereotype of new military threat caused by ungrounded fears of the Russian army and especially nuclear armaments which can spin out of control “at any moment”
- the deeply rooted in the Western conscience stereotype that Russia is not capable to carry out all the reforms without guidance from the West, which requires continuous monitoring of the efforts undertaken by the Russian leaders, especially in the economy and human rights
- the stereotype about the bodies of government involved in corruption and criminality, which does not only undermine any investment or market operations in Russia, but makes it impossible to regard Russia as a civilized subject of international law
The alarm over the ‘Russian mafia’ heated in the western media is one of the most threats to Russia’s reputation. The most interesting thing is that only a small part of gangs categorized as ‘Russian mafia’ actually originates from Russia. Most of them are of the Ukrainian, Caucasian, Baltic, Chechen extraction. Nonetheless, the Western media normally use the phrase ‘Russian mafia’ to describe any criminal groups originating from the former Soviet Union irrespective of their ethnic and national identity. The essential groundwork for progress in this area was laid during the 62nd Interpol assembly in September 1996 in Turkey, which unanimously ruled that the term ‘Russian mafia’ can’t be used for all the criminals from the former Soviet republics.
After Vladimir Putin came to power, there have been a lot of good beginnings in Russia. For example, Russia stopped borrowing money from abroad, the income tax was fixed at the lowest level in Europe – 13 per cent. The new president seems to really know what he wants. The leader of the country is the key figure for its image abroad. Maybe his image is somewhat contradictory, but on the whole it is nevertheless positive. Yet, Western public opinion is hesitating. It can be manipulating and it is being fed with stereotypes and because of that there can be something negative towards Putin.
It is necessary to work very hard to alter this tendency. Western politicians take an understanding towards Putin, though they are compelled to speak worse than they think of him, because they have to address their own societies which are full of stereotypes. On the other hand, Putin has very positive image among Western business circles which consider that he is transforming Russia in a way that it is beginning to develop economically, and that’s why it is necessary to invest their money in Russia as soon as possible.
Thank God that the Russian authorities have at last started thinking about Russia’s image abroad. But it is bad that society and the business circles which are really interested in giving the country a positive image are doing actually nothing in this situation.
We should do a lot to overcome lack of understanding between the Russian and Western societies, because it is an essential condition of the rational integration of Russia into the world community. Since this misunderstanding is not fundamental, but rather historical and psychological, it can be step by step reduced through forming an adequate image of Russia in the outer world.
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