THE IMAGE AND BRAND OF THE COUNTRY: CONCEPTS AND RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

Аннотация

The article presents a certain system of disparate studies in the field of country imageology in research. The entire volume of diverse research on this topic is classified. The definitions of the basic concepts (image, image, brand) are given based on the study of basic approaches. The psychological, cultural, marketing, theoretical, and sociological approaches to the study of national imageology, as well as an approach related to interaction with the media, are highlighted. Their own understandings of the studied categories are proposed, based ontheanalyzed material. Key words:image, image, brand, country. Currently, not only in the world, but also in our country, the popularity of research on the country's image is growing, and the fashion for such work has come from the field of personal image studies and political marketing, which have experienced (and are still experiencing) a real boom in the post-Soviet space. However, along with the excitement for the study of the country's image, new methodological and epistemological scientific challenges came, the answers to which, despite the scientific fashion, turned out to be very limited, which could not but negatively affect the structuring of research approaches and, as a result, theeffectiveness ofusing theresults achieved. Foreign researchers were the first to pay attention to the "image" category. American sociologist Kenneth Boulding, in his book "Image: Knowledge in Life and Society," proposed the concept that an image is a certain behavioral stereotype that influences the actions of an individual, group of individuals, or nation. Boulding argued that an image is formed not on the basis of real facts, but on prestige, opinions and illusions that people create about themselves, on a mythological view of the past and an imaginary view of the future. Such an image can influence both the actions of individuals or groups, and the behavior of entire nations [1]. After decades of studying this phenomenon, another researcher will give a more precise definition: "Image is reputation, perception, attitude, message, assessment, recognition, trust, support, communication and attitude" [2]. A significant contribution to the study of the phenomenon of "image" was made by the English political scientist Graham Wallace, who argued that not rational motives, but behavioral attitudes formed over the years are the basis of the model of voter behavior. The German sociologist K. Hilmann defined an image as a set of feelings, ideas, and assessments that are subjectively perceived by individuals or groups and become the basis of their ideas about other people and social institutions. Russian specialist I.Sinyaeva defined the term in the context of the organization's image: "a positive image is created by the main activity of the company, as well as by purposeful information work aimed at target groups of the public" [4]. Thus, an image, as an page775 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ISSN:2692-5206,ImpactFactor:12,23 AmericanAcademicpublishers,volume05,issue05,2025 Journal: https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai interdisciplinary phenomenon, is a set of stereotypical opinions, subjective perceptions, behavioral attitudes that form over time, and irrational ideas. If we take a political science question, considering the state image, it is "the imaginary image of this state among the citizens of the country and abroad" [5]. Another researcher, D. A. Klimenko, considered the image through the prism of branding, giving an interpretation as follows: "a set of ideas that the owner of the thing would like to introduce into the mass consciousness," but also touched on the political aspect – "this is how the state would like to be perceived in the international space". And Professor Francis Kotler, Professor of International Marketing, writes that there are concepts of "image of space", that is, we can understand by this term the image of a city, province, region and the same states in full-dimensional integrity, and to the description of what the words "image" are, he attributes the already familiar statements that are given above "the sumof beliefs, ideas andpeople's impressions ofthis place". A domestic researcher who decides to start working in the field of the country's image immediately faces a scientific dilemma, which is related both to the heterogeneity of research approaches in the domestic tradition and to the lack of consensus around the content of the maincategories. While Western studies, which are methodologically different (although with a practical bias typical of Western science), have adopted the use of the general term "image", the Russian tradition has adopted the use of two terms: "image" and "image", but a common understanding of these terms has not been developed, which largely led to the strongest heterogeneity of research. Most Russian studies represent various pieces of the mosaic in the field ofnational imageology, whic