Power fanatics
Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s worldview and mechanism of rule
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In Belarus, the authoritarian ruler Lukashenka has created a personality-based regime in which all political and social processes are controlled by him via a rigid vertical power structure. For him, power is a question of life and death. His worldview is dominated by conspiracy theories, and politics is a battle against his enemies. Lukashenka regards the state as being his own, and the people as his subjects. Due to his lack of communication with society, he failed to register the development of a revolutionary situation in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. For Lukashenka, the only way of responding to the protests is to use repression and violence. Yet the fundamental social changes that have been set in motion are unstoppable.
(Osteuropa 10-11/2020, pp. 147–159)