Introduction to the Special Issue on Protest and Authoritarian Reaction in Belarus

Abstract

Understanding the scale and nature of changes that have occurred in Belarus since the 2020 protests, not only at the political but also at the societal level, is crucial to our ability to interpret the role that Belarus has played in the current crisis in the region and to understand the potential for, and possible directions of, long-term change. This article provides interpretive frameworks for studying the Belarusian protests and their contribution to shaping new subjectivities in Belarusian society whose impact may go beyond altering state-society relations. The article reflects on relationality and eventfulness as key concepts for understanding shifts toward a consolidation of individuals’ autonomy from the state. It introduces the collection of articles in a special issue by reflecting on different disciplinary perspectives and approaches to the significance and aftermath of the 2020 protests, including new religious subjectivities, new emotional styles, and new gender roles. These articles provide sustenance for larger debates in the social sciences about the ways in which new subjectivities emerge in, refract through, and consolidate or dissipate after protest waves.