ARTICLES | RadarBY

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ARTICLES

Welcome to the Articles section of Radar_BY! This space is dedicated to presenting a selection of influential publications authored by our team members and collaborators. Our articles explore critical themes such as gender dynamics in the face of global crises, the role of digital solutions in enhancing citizen participation, and the strategies of civil society under authoritarian regimes. Through these publications, we aim to provide deep insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by civil society in Eastern Europe, with a special focus on Belarus. Our research not only sheds light on the current state of civic activism and digital engagement but also contributes to the broader discourse on democracy and human rights in the region. We invite you to explore these articles to gain a better understanding of our work and the principles driving our initiative.

Journal of Gender Studies

DOES THE PANDEMIC HAVE A GENDER? AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ABOUT THE PERCEIVED IMPACT OF COVID-19 MEASURES ON WOMEN AND MEN IN UKRAINE AND BELARUS

JOURNAL OF GENDER STUDIES

This paper examines the perceived effects of COVID-19 containment policies in Ukraine and Belarus, focusing on how these policies disproportionately affected men and women due to societal gender roles and stereotypes. The study uses document analysis, interviews with gender experts and activists, and a survey of 109 respondents to explore the different quarantine behaviours of men and women in the two countries. The analysis reveals how the virus was handled differently in the two countries, with Ukraine implementing strict lockdowns while Belarus downplayed the severity of the virus. In addition, the survey analysis was based on four dimensions - economic, social, healthcare and well-being, and civic empowerment - contributing to uncovering citizens' perceptions of the implications of the pandemic in their daily lives. The paper concludes by providing policy recommendations to address the economic and social impacts of the pandemic, as well as ways to better manage future health crises by addressing gender-specific needs.

Matveieva, O. Navumau, V, & Galego, D. | 2023

ADOPTION OF PUBLIC E-SERVICES VERSUS CIVIC TECH SERVICES: ON THE ISSUE OF CITIZEN POLITICAL SUBJECTIVITY IN UKRAINE AND BELARUS

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT

Belarus and Ukraine embarked on digitalisation relying on an international experience. Ukraine experienced difficulties in building infrastructure and connecting their regions and faced challenges in providing training and raising citizen awareness on advantages of the digital services. Yet, the digitalization reform proceeded from the principles of citizen-centeredness and e-participation. Belarus, on the contrary, was quick in building the basic infrastructure and training their public officials. However, the e-government was oriented rather on technical aspects and inter-sectoral communication, than on the needs of the citizens. Despite the differences in both cases, the level of trust, the basic prerequisite for the quality e-services, has been low (Ukraine) or non-existent (Belarus). This paper uses multi-method approach to examine citizen trust and their adoption of e-services in developing political or administrative regime contexts that are characterized by low trust, variable digital literacy, and variable access to information. A key finding is that in both countries it was the historical legacy of access to free services, that was one of the barriers to building a sustainable and reliable system of e-services.

Matveieva, O. Navumau, V, & Galego, D. | 2022

International Conference on Electronic Government

Europe-Asia Studies

AUTHORITARIAN COOPTATION OF CIVIL SOCIETY: THE CASE OF BELARUS, EUROPE-ASIA STUDIES

EUROPE-ASIA STUDIES, VOLUME 74, 2022 - ISSUE 1

In Belarus, a vibrant civil society coexisted for the better part of the past decade with a firmly entrenched autocracy in a depoliticised cooptation mode. Through cooptation, the energy of civil society was channelled from representing a threat to the regime into being its resource. However, the capacity developed by civil society during this period of political inactivity was quickly redeployed for political purposes at the junction of economic crisis, the regime’s failure to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. After the 2020 mass protests, in which civil society played a pivotal role, the regime’s attitude to civil society turned to suppression and hostility.

Astapova, A., Navumau, V. Nizhnikau, G., and Polischuk, L. | 2022

THE GENDER DIMENSION OF 2020 BELARUSIAN PROTEST: DOES FEMALE ENGAGEMENT CONTRIBUTE TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GENDER EQUALITY?

NEW PERSPECTIVES, VOLUME 29, ISSUE 3

One of the distinctive traits of the Belarusian ‘revolution-in-the-making’, sparked by alleged falsifications during the presidential elections and brutal repressions of protest afterwards, has been a highly visible gender dimension. This article is devoted to the analysis of this gender-related consequences of protest activism in Belarus. Within this research, the authors analyse the role of the female movement in the Belarusian uprising and examine, and to which extent this involvement expands the public sphere and contributes to the changes in gender-related policies. To do this, the authors conducted seven semi-structured in-depth interviews with the gender experts and activists – four before and four after the protests.

Matveieva, O. & Navumau, V. | 2021

New Perspective, Volume 29

Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization

INTEGRATION OR ABSORPTION? ANALYZING THE PROPAGANDIST NARRATIVES GENERATED BY RUSSIA-BACKED ONLINE REGIONAL MEDIA IN BELARUS

DEMOKRATIZATSIYA. VOL. 28 NO. 3, 2020, P. 461-484

This article analyzes the plethora of disinformation materials that emerged during the most recent negotiations between Russia and Belarus on “further integration”—that is, the process of “political and economic absorption” of Belarus—that took place between December 2018 and April 2019. Russian media used deceptive news articles to put forward their agenda and interpellate support among Belarusian citizens. The paper uses framing theory to identify the characteristics of pro-integration discourses in resources launched by the Russian authorities in the Belarusian regions between December 2018 and April 2019. The media disguised themselves as “objective” regional Internet media by publishing neutral articles, but came to disseminate disinformation and materials that promoted Russia’s agenda.

Navumau, V. | 2020

SOCIAL MEDIA AS A SOURCE OF COUNTER-HEGEMONIC DISCOURSES: MICRO-LEVEL ANALYSIS OF THE BELARUSIAN "SILENT ACTIONS" PROTEST MOVEMENT

DEMOKRATIZATSIYA. VOL.27, NO. 3,PP. 287-317

The events of the so-called "Ploshcha" [Square] in 2006, when youth activists pitched a tent camp in the center of Minsk to protest against election fraud, caused some social theorists to predict the revival of civic protest in Belarus. Those assumptions, however, proved to be wrong: rather, a slow decay in both the number and the intensity of protest actions took place. Yet in the past eight years, activists have begun using new techniques for organizing protests, as well as inventing new slogans and proposing creative ideas. This article reflects on the emergence of new discursive practices and the ways in which they reinterpret key concepts such as the focus on "street struggle." In particular, the article analyses emerging forms of collective protests, such as the so-called "Silent Actions," through the lens of Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory and compares the discourse of the Silent Actions with the established counter-hegemonic discourse.

Navumau, V. | 2019

Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization

Journal of American Folklore (2018)

VEYSHNORIA: A FAKE COUNTRY IN THE MIDST OF REAL INFORMATION WARFARE

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLKLORE (2018) 131 (522): 435–443

As a humorous response to the threat of the Russian occupation of Belarus during the joint military exercise of September 2017, civic activists created the fictional Republic of Veyshnoria. This meme soon obtained all the attributes of a micro-nation, including numerous virtual citizens, serving to critique the autocratic government of Belarus and creating a platform for alternative nation-building. Via humor and fake news, fictional Veyshnoria is becoming increasingly instrumental in the realm of information and ideological warfare.

Astapova, A., and Navumau, V. | 2018

THE BELARUSIAN MAIDAN IN 2006: A NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENT APPROACH TO THE TENT CAMP PROTEST IN MINSK

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT

The book offers an analysis of the «Belarusian Maidan» protest movement that emerged in Minsk at the October Square as a result of the falsification of the presidential elections in March 2006. In particular, the author analyses the virtual dimension of the movement and its creativity by applying the New Social Movement approach elaborated by Melucci. He also presents an in-depth analysis through the use of Deleuzian concepts. The «Belarusian Maidan» is inscribed into the historical context of Belarusian social activism of 1990–2006, amid the increasing influence of new ICTs and the Internet.

Navumau, V. | Kurczewska, J. & Shibata, Y. (eds) | 2016

The Belarusian Maidan in 2006. Vasil Navumau

Polish Sociological Review 2014

SOCIAL ACTIVISM IN POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRIES AND NEW MEDIA: THE CASE OF THE TENT CAMP PROTEST ACTION IN MINSK

POLISH SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW 2014; 187(3):291-516

Social movements, along with political parties play a significant role in socio-political life of contemporary democracies. As distinct from political parties, they do not pretend to take part in the direct exercise of power (though many of them do demand to be included into the decision-making process), but realizing their specific aims and functions, they exert considerable influence on the political process. Existence in a given country of wide range of social movements, struggling for their own interests is widely considered an indicator of a strong civil society. But how do social movements pursue their goals in countries with underdeveloped institutes of civil society? Does the intervention of new ICTs have certain emancipatory potential, which could be used by social movements to facilitate the desired social transformations? Is it possible to speak about the generational change in social movements, meaning new collective actors, using ICTs and Internet, significantly differ from those that can be termed “old” collective actors? In this paper, I analyze the ways in which new ICTs change the scope, ideology and structure of contemporary social movements and illustrate these transformations with the example of peculiar Belarusian movement,—namely, the Tent Camp, emerged as a result of falsification of the presidential elections in March, 2006, on October Square in Minsk.

Navumau, V. | 2014

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