This paper argues that one way to advance the ‘normative power’ discourse is to shift the analytical focus to ‘norm-receivers’ rather than to ‘norm-senders/makers’. This analysis deals with post-Maidan Ukraine and asks about the range of local reactions to the EU’s normative messages on democracy – from learning to adaptation, resistance or rejection of norms (Björkdahl et al. 2015). It explains the factors behind those reactions building on Ian Mannersʼ claim that normative power is informed by ‘cultural filters’ which affect the impact of international norms and political learning in non-EU countries. Specifically, the paper is informed by the concept of ‘external recognition’ based on Ukraine’s local cultural filters of images and perceptions of the EU as a normative power.
Deepening and enriching the Normative Power Europe (NPE) theoretical discourse on ‘cultural filters’ of external perceptions, this paper undertakes a systematic study of Europe’s normative images in general, and of democracy in particular. As such, the paper brings a novel insights into the study of domestic factors that foster democratic advances. Ultimately, the paper positions itself within the ‘third wave’ of NPE theorization that deals with “structural changes in international relations problematising Europe’s capacity for normative power; ontological and epistemological contestation of normative power Europe; and a contestation of Eurocentricity seen to be intrinsic to normative power Europe” (Whitman 2013, 186).
Empirically, this paper studies EU normative images communicated through Ukrainian influential media (seven papers) and perceptions expressed by leading newsmakers. This analysis assesses EU framing according to a tripartite paradigm of visibility, local resonance and emotional charge argued within the “Cascading Activation Framing Theory” (Entman 2003, 2004). With this, the paper links this established in communication studies theory with a popular in EU studies theorisation of ‘NPE’ in an innovative way.
