Description
How do people make sense of distant, but disturbing international events? Why are some representations more appealing than others? And most importantly, what do they mean for how societies imagine themselves?
Going beyond conventional analysis of perception at the level of accuracy, this paper will argue that public attitudes to international crises are shaped primarily by local anxieties, emotions, cultural memories, insecurities and hopes, and above all - by the societal need for positive and continuous self-conceptions. I will look for the drawing self behind its portraits of others - the inner motivations and needs of a subject that lead it to perceive events and their agents in a certain light.
This paper will draw on original interview materials and polling data to examine public perception of the Arab Spring in Russia and the UK as these crises unraveled, relate these perceptions to dominant political and media representations, and make an argument both about and beyond this particular case. The paper will provide evidence of how societies idealise themselves through imagining distant others in times of crises and uncertainty. Anxiety reduction and identity self-affirmation - not accuracy - will be shown as the key elements that determine public attitudes to major international events.
