№ 3 - 2003
Kiselyov I.Yu.
The Images of States in International Relations: Mechanisms of Transformation

Basic mechanisms are analyzed, that change the states’ behaviour on the international scene in connection with the changes of their images. In this, the author proceeds from the thesis that decisions in the field of foreign policy are determined both by the values that the states attribute to social objects and by those states’ perception of themselves (Self-images). A state’s ideas of itself are subject to almost no changes, they resist to changes. Therefore states’ perception and evaluation of the actions of one another on the international scene since the end of the cold war either remain unchanged, or undergo changes of just a situational, superficial character.