(Newsweek) (Co-author: J. Zavisca) The United States has a major public relations problem in former Soviet countries. Not only in Russia, but in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and even Ukraine, ordinary people see the U.S. as an arrogant, hegemonic superpower that meddles in the affairs of other countries in a cynical pursuit of its own interests—perceptions that dovetail with the Russian government’s official critiques of the United States, which may explain the success of these particular memes.
At the same time, citizens of these countries respect and admire American economic power, technology, culture and, to some extent, its political institutions. This dual-sided picture—often obscured by crude survey-based measures of views of America in post-Soviet nations—emerged from 18 focus groups we conducted in Russia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine between April and August 2014. […]
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On this topic:
Pro et Contra: Views of the United States in Four Post-Soviet States, PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 354, September 2014
What 18 Focus Groups in the Former USSR Taught Us About America’s Image Problems, Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2015
