Citation

Silander D. J. Hum. Secur. 2007; 3(1): 17-29.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Librello Publishing)

DOI

10.3316/JHS0301017

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Regime change has become one of the most interesting political phenomena in Europe of the past two decades. Political scientists have shown a great deal of interest in understanding the conditions that favour regime change. There has been particular interest in understanding regime change in the post-communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Over the past decades, the dominant pattern of regime change has been the transition from nondemocratic to democratic regimes. This has raised questions of how democratic transitions are promoted and how democratic regimes become stable. This article explores the regime changes in post-communist Europe. It characterises democratisation of most post-communist countries by considering the deviant case of Belarus. Its deviation from the norm is understood through the processes of regime change in the region, and more specifically, against the political developments within the Belarusian regime and society.