Rethinking the 'Coloured Revolutions'

The communist world was supposed to have had its ?revolution? in 1989. But the demise of the Soviet Union came two years later, at the end of 1991; and then, perplexingly, a series of irregular executive changes began to take place the following decade in countries that were already postcommunist. The focus in this collection is the changes that took place in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan between 2000 and 2005 that have together been called the ?coloured revolutions?: of no particular colour in Serbia, but Rose in Georgia, Orange in Ukraine and Tulip in Kyrgyzstan.

Apart from exploring political change in the ?coloured revolution? countries themselves, the contributors to this collection focus on countries that did not experience this kind of irregular executive change but which might otherwise be comparable (Belarus and Kazakhstan among them), and on reactions to ?democracy promotion? in Russia and China. Throughout, an effort is made to avoid taking the ?coloured revolutions? at face value, however they may have been presented by local leaders and foreign governments with their own agendas; and to place them within the wider literature of comparative politics.

This book was previously published as a special issue of Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics.

Preface Stephen WhiteandDavid Lane 1. ‘Coloured Revolution’ as a Political Phenomenon David Lane 2. From Reform and Transition to ‘Coloured Revolutions’ Vicken Cheterian 3. Putting the Colour into Revolutions? The OSCE and Civil Society in the Post-Soviet Region David J. Galbreath 4. Contested Sovereignty: The International Politics of Regime Change in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Christopher Lamont 5. Roses and Tulips: Dynamics of Regime Change in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan Donnacha O Beachain 6. Rethinking the ‘Orange Revolution’ Stephen WhiteandIan McAllister 7. Ukraine 2004: Informal Networks, Transformation of Social Capital and Coloured Revolutions Abel Polese 8. Class Voting and the Orange Revolution: A Cultural Political Economy Perspective on Ukraine’s Electoral Geography Vlad Mykhnenko 9. Rethinking the International Diffusion of Coloured Revolutions: The Power of Representation in Kyrgyzstan John Heathershaw 10. Was There a Quiet Revolution? Belarus After the 2006 Presidential Election Elena Korosteleva 11. The Legacy of the ‘Coloured Revolutions’: The Case of Kazakhstan Wojciech Ostrowski 12. Coloured Revolutions: The View from Moscow and Beijing Jeanne L. Wilson 13. Is There a Pattern? Stephen White

David Lane is a Professor at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Stephen White is Professor at the Department of Politics, University of Glasgow, UK.