Boumenir, Sabrina

English

ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University

To ‘Uncolor’ a Revolution: How Belarus Is One Step Ahead Sabrina Boumenir ABSTRACT: The sudden demise of its neighbors’ governments left the Belarusian leadership in a state of paranoia. The charge of the Rose, Orange and Tulip Revolutions jolted surrounding states as well, even those that were not susceptible to having a presence of protestors took extraordinary measures to monitor any antigovernment sentiment or outreach to organize one. These historical events propagated research of regime change initiated by the common citizenry, and other supporting groups, leading to ideas of how opposition movements are strengthened and under what conditions help foment them. Although these works on regime change are integral, having an insight on preemptive government policies are critical to understand opposition failure. In the case of Belarus, the conditions presented were identical to its pre-revolution neighbors and its opposition learned various strategies from their counterparts. Regardless of these similarities, in 2006, Belarus revealed that it was immune. As studies have shown, Belarus has enacted laws that targeted solely opposition groups earlier in 2005, set to fragment collective unification and undermine their credibility and dignity. Also, the strength of the state’s economic and security apparatus is also noted to explain its success of emerging untouched, which the former helped the incumbent popularity rise. Despite these measures aimed at blocking the opposition, the formation itself was at fault, not being able to adopt a coherent and cohesive platform to run against the incumbent. This study shows how the precision of Belarusian laws and other preemptive measures staved off opposition, having learned from resulted uprisings of its neighbors.  KEYWORDS: Belarus; Color Revolutions; Georgia; NGOs; Preemptive; Regime Change; Ukraine 

To \u27Uncolor\u27 a Revolution: How Belarus Is One Step Ahead

Georgia State University

To ‘Uncolor’ a Revolution: How Belarus Is One Step Ahead 
Sabrina Boumenir 
ABSTRACT: The sudden demise of its neighbors’ governments left the Belarusian leadership in 
a state of paranoia. The charge of the Rose, Orange and Tulip Revolutions jolted surrounding 
states as well, even those that were not susceptible to having a presence of protestors took 
extraordinary measures to monitor any antigovernment sentiment or outreach to organize one. 
These historical events propagated research of regime change initiated by the common citizenry, 
and other supporting groups, leading to ideas of how opposition movements are strengthened and 
under what conditions help foment them. Although these works on regime change are integral, 
having an insight on preemptive government policies are critical to understand opposition 
failure. In the case of Belarus, the conditions presented were identical to its pre-revolution 
neighbors and its opposition learned various strategies from their counterparts. Regardless of 
these similarities, in 2006, Belarus revealed that it was immune. As studies have shown, Belarus 
has enacted laws that targeted solely opposition groups earlier in 2005, set to fragment collective 
unification and undermine their credibility and dignity. Also, the strength of the state’s economic 
and security apparatus is also noted to explain its success of emerging untouched, which the 
former helped the incumbent popularity rise. Despite these measures aimed at blocking the 
opposition, the formation itself was at fault, not being able to adopt a coherent and cohesive 
platform to run against the incumbent. This study shows how the precision of Belarusian laws 
and other preemptive measures staved off opposition, having learned from resulted uprisings of 
its neighbors.  
KEYWORDS: Belarus; Color Revolutions; Georgia; NGOs; Preemptive; Regime Change; 
Ukraine 


https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1315&amp;context=gsurc

To \u27Uncolor\u27 a Revolution: How Belarus Is One Step Ahead

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Georgia State University