POLI 419 Chapter Notes - Chapter 0: Colour Revolution, Authoritarianism, Gazprom
28 May 2016
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Document Summary
When belarusian voters went to the polls for the presidential election of 19 march 2006, they were making a foray into short-term futility, but not long-term hopelessness. Moreover, lukashenka was popular anyway: belarus"s economy had been improving, and the country"s largest independent polling agency estimated that he had won 63 percent of the vote. Even the empty election of 2006 provoked an upsurge of civic activism, helped the democratic camp to consolidate itself, and eventually brought forth a more vocal and sustained show of defiance against authoritarianism than belarusians have seen in years. Following the recent color revolutions in post-communist eurasia, lukashenka and the region"s other remaining autocrats began devising methods to prevent anything similar from happening to them. These methods may include efforts to destroy the opposition"s organizational capabilities, silence independent media, undermine independent nongovernmental organizations (ngos), and create surrogate institutions that make faking democracy and manipulating political processes less risky.
