A Study Of American Strategic Communication To The Middle East From The Perspective Of Perception Management (2009-2019)

Since the 21 st century,the international community has undergone profound and significant changes.The construction of ideas,the change of perception and the promotion of image are not only the starting point of foreign policy,but also an important yardstick to test strategic communication and a critical way to promote strategic communication.This thesis focuses on the strategic communication strategy of the US towards the Middle East driven by perception management since the Obama Administration.By dissecting the concept,mechanism,model and practice of perception management,this paper concentrates on the interaction between perception management and strategic communication,and assessment of validity of perception management to analysis how the United States formed,shaped and changed its perception of the Middle East audience.Foreign Policy is the forerunner of strategic communication and perception management which is in return the aim of strategic communication,and strategic communication is the means of perception management.Based on the analysis of foreign policy,strategic communication and perception management,this paper test the rationality of the analytical framework of American perception management on the Middle East through the in-depth cases of American strategic communication behavior in the Middle East since 2009.This paper makes an investigation systematically and exhaustively in accordance with cases of the strategic communication conducted to establish the cognition of the Middle East to the United States during the Obama Administration(the "Arab Spring")and the Donald Trump administration(confrontation between United States and Iran)respectively,which aims to test and verify an argument that the validity of the implementation of perception management is an important factor affecting the national image and national interests of the United States,further confirming the role of perception management in changing the international image of the United States in the Middle East and reducing the hostility of the Middle East audience towards the United States.In recent years,with the rapid rise of China's national power and the increasing international influence,the public perception of China in the Western society has also undergone profound changes,the thesis makes it the practical significance that China could carry out a foreign strategy and build a positive national image attempting to put forward the analytical framework of perception management and exploring the effects of the conduction of strategic communication in the United States.