What about Whataboutism

• In Event: Digital Politics, Dissent, and Mobilization in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia

Abstract

Politicians frequently attempt to deflect criticism and responsibility for wrongdoing by raising irrelevant issues or counter accusations. This practice, known as whataboutism, was a common Soviet propaganda tactic during the Cold War and has since become a widely use rhetorical strategy in contemporary political debates. But does this propaganda strategy influence political attitudes and, if so, how? This paper examines the impact of whataboutism by Russian authorities on political attitudes using original survey experiments of nationally representative populations in Russia. We investigate how reminders by Russian authorities of the United States' record on certain societal and political issues, such as human rights abuses, influence citizens' evaluation of both countries' record on the same issue. We hypothesize that such reminders will depress Russians’ evaluations of the situation not only in the United States but in Russia as well, increasing overall cynicism about their own country’s politics.

Authors

• Hannah Chapman, U of Oklahoma

• Anton Shirikov, The University of Kansas