Ukrainian Crisis Political Images. How Ukraine views Russia and the European Union

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject Communications - Media and Politics, Politic Communications, grade: B, Anglo American University (International Relations), language: English, abstract: The research question is: How do Ukrainians view Russia and the European Union and what does their opinion suggest about the nature of their relationship? I will analyze images and political cartoons found on social media, primarily Facebook because it is the most popular, to understand how Ukrainians view themselves and countries who they consider their enemies and allies.

Understanding how Ukraine views the Other helps the viewer to understand how Ukraine views the Self. Gathering a large amount of images allows me to compare them with each other and analyze the opinions that they portray.

The findings of my analysis of the images lead to several conclusive statements about the way that Ukraine sees Russia, the European Union and finally themselves. The images show a lot of anti-Russian propaganda, which is significant because there is a connection with the sacrificing oneself for one's nation. Through this analysis I conclude that Ukraine views Russia as an aggressor and invader who is selfish and isn't fair; and Ukraine views the European Union as a place with an ideal economy and policies; it also views Russia as an enemy to both Ukraine and the European Union. Finally, along with how Ukraine sees the two countries, the images show that Ukraine sees themselves as brave, determined to be free and selfishly patriotic.

November 21st 2013 marked the beginning of a conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The conflict started when former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych failed to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union. The economy and living standards began to deteriorate prior to November and Ukrainians believed that closer ties with the European Union would improve the situation. Students came out to protest and when the police reacted violently, others came out to join the protesters until the maximum number of protesters reached 800,000.

Ukrainians have always been torn between Europe and Russia, and this conflict has created a bigger gap between the people on the opposing sides. To understand the conflict it is important to understand how Ukrainians feel about Russia and the European Union.