| Abstrakt: |
An increasingly authoritarian Russia has recently come under pressure from the so-called 'colour revolutions' in the former Soviet Union. The spread of democracy in this region is reminiscent of what democratization scholars call 'diffusion' or 'contagion', a process by which a democratic transition in one country sparks similar transitions in close proximity. Expanding upon the previous literature on democratic diffusion, this article proposes that autocratic leaders have three strategies of 'authoritarian resistance' to regional democratic trends: insulate, bolster and subvert. Each of these is examined in the context of specific Russian policies aimed at halting or containing the process of diffusion at home and abroad: the campaign to undermine the ability of foreign non-governmental organizations within Russia to oppose the Kremlin (insulate); Russian support for authoritarianism in Belarus (bolster); and, the foreign policy offensive against Ukraine (subvert). The conclusion of this article both explores what the Russian case can tell us about diffusion theory and identifies avenues of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
