Society in the authoritarian discourse:The case of the 2020 presidential election in Belarus

Abstract

In August 2020, the presidential election took place in Belarus, followed by unprecedented mass protests due to apparent election fraud. Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the country’slong-term authoritarian leader, faced the biggest electoral challenge since his first electionin 1994. This article analyzes his official rhetoric during the campaign and after theelection focusing on the image of the society. For this purpose, discourse-historical approachis applied to understand his political vision of the developments in Belarus andto explore changes in his rhetoric caused by the unprecedented challenge to his power.The research demonstrates that Lukashenka acts as a classical authoritarian ruler withrespective discursive strategies. The text shows that he adopted the imaginary role ofBelarus’s strict father, who has assumed full responsibility for its fate and offensivelyreactsto every challenger of this role. It also reveals that Lukashenka sees his personalcontract with the Belarusian society as a stable and durable instrument that does not requirechanges and per se implies his personal engagement as a party to it. Finally, theanalysis of Lukashenka’s rhetoric in 2020 suggests that a voluntary transition of powerin Belarus remains rather wishful thinking