Putin’s International Political Image

Abstract

This article concerns how publics perceive and relate to a foreign politician. There is no formal relationship between these groups as the publics have no ability to participate in national elections that could validate or detract the aura of legitimacy of the politician. Therefore the relationship could be more informal in nature and based upon perceived similarities and differences of held norms and values. President Vladimir Putin of Russia is a well-known (high profile) global political figure, which may mean a more intensely generated set of attitudes toward him as a political figure. There has been an overwhelmingly negative flow of information in mainstream mass media, especially after the Ukraine crisis. The question posed in the paper sets out to answer, given the negative coverage and associations, could any foreign (non-Russian) publics still like or admire him? The answer found is yes, there are in fact diverse sets of foreign publics like or admire his actual/perceived values and norms–for example his conservative values or his conflict with the US-led West.