The history of Serbia’s youth protests illustrates the importance of learning and adaptation in protest tactics

In the wake of the Arab Spring, it is clear that protest movements can be a viable means to affect change on a national level. In this light, Olena Nikolayenko looks at the development of the Serbian youth protest movement, Otpor, from its antecedents in the early 1990s to its role in the electoral defeat of the President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. She writes that the protest movement owes much of its success to its ability to learn from its own experiences and those of protest movements in other countries

The fate of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime rests on the loyalty of his security apparatus

Despite widespread protests, Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in for his sixth term as President of Belarus on 23 September. Olena Nikolayenko writes that while there have been a small number of resignations by rank and file police officers over the state’s handling of the protests, the security apparatus has largely remained loyal to the regime. Unless this situation changes, it will be difficult for the opposition to gain the upper hand

‘I am tired of being afraid’: Emotions and protest participation in Belarus

Belarus witnessed a staggering level of mass mobilization in the aftermath of the 2020 fraudulent election and disproportionate use of police force against peaceful protesters. Using the case of anti-government protests in Belarus, this article argues that a confluence of moral and reflex emotions explains an incredibly high level of protest participation in a hard autocracy. Specifically, indignation over the magnitude of electoral malpractices and the intensity of police violence, in congruence with the loss of fear, provides a moral battery for generating and sustaining mass mobilization. It is further argued that a sense of unity within the protest movement mitigates fear of repression and facilitates sustained engagement in protests. Drawing on media reports and protesters’ narratives, the study traces how citizens overcame their fear of state reprisal and took to the street. The article contributes to contentious politics literature by elucidating the role of emotions in shaping mass mobilization.</jats:p

Invisible Revolutionaries: Women' s Participation in the Revolution of Dignity

The article develops a typology of revolutions based upon women's roles over the course of revolutionary struggle. In addition to the patriarchal and the emancipatory models, the study proposes a hybrid model of women's participation in a revolution, characterized by the diversity and fluidity of women's roles. According to the hybrid model, women’s involvement in a revolution can follow three different strategies: (1) acquiescence to a traditional gender-based division of labor, (2) appropriation of the masculine forms of resistance, and (3) mixing of diverse modes of action. Using the case of the 2013–2014 Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine, the empirical analysis demonstrates multifaceted forms of women's activism. The study contributes to the literature by broadening the conceptualization of women's participation in a contemporary urban revolution.</jats:p