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Legitimization Strategies of the Authoritarian Regime in Belarus
Osterrothová, Sára ; Šír, Jan (advisor) ; Kolenovská, Daniela (referee)
This bachelor's thesis analyses the legitimization strategies of the authoritarian regime in Belarus during the period 1994-2020. The typology of legitimization strategies by Christian von Soest and Julia Grauvogel serves as the theoretical framework of the thesis. This thesis not only identifies which strategies were used by the Lukashenko regime but above all analyses how they manifested themselves. This allows the topic to be examined comprehensively and the evolution of these strategies to be taken into account. Attention is first of all paid to the persona of Alexander Lukashenko and his role as "batka" (i.e. father in Belarusian), the protector of the collective memory of veterans, the guarantor of the country's "economic stability", and the defender of Belarusian sovereignty. The importance of the formal existence of elections in Lukashenko's rhetoric is also addressed. The thesis examines the formation of Belarusian state ideology, which is based on the official understanding of "Belarusianness", and the ideologization of the so-called Great Patriotic War. Last but not least, the thesis examines Lukashenko's social contract as well as how the regime refers to its role on the international stage and how it uses the rhetoric of external threats. The main finding of the thesis is that the...
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Russia's Soft Power in Belarus: The Myth of the Great Patriotic War
Michalovič, Lukáš ; Šír, Jan (advisor) ; Litera, Bohuslav (referee)
Goal of this master thesis is to show that the myth of the Great Patriotic War is a source of Russian soft power in Belarus. After the methodology chapter, the thesis continues with connecting the concept of soft power authored by Joseph Nye with the concept of myth which is here defined on the basis of theories of Eliade and Malinowski. The next part discusses Russian soft power in the Post-Soviet area in general and in Belarus in particular. It demonstrates that Russian soft power rests largely on common history shared by Russians and other Post-Soviet nations. As a consequence, the main sources of Russian soft power rest on identities and narratives, including myths. The myth of the Great Patriotic War was at the center of Soviet mythology and it has preserved its dominant position also in the Post-Soviet period, what holds true particularly for Belarus. The following part retraces the evolution of the myth of the Great Patriotic War from its emergence during the Second World War until today. It shows that the essence of this myth is a feeling of togetherness and of community that unites the former Soviet nations. The last part presents an interpretative analysis of five qualitative interviews with Belarusians. The analysis of individual cases to a large extent confirmed that the myth of the...
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Lukashenka's First Presidential Term Images (1994-2001)
Bruna, Jaroslav ; Slačálek, Ondřej (advisor) ; Vargovčíková, Jana (referee)
The author seeks to identify the key elements of the Lukashenka's first presidential term perception in Tyden magazine. This perception is compared with the Lukashenka regime selfpresentation. The autor uses Norman Fairclough's Analysing Discourse as a theoretical background. Firstly we are identifying the main themes and furthermore the way how they are elaborated during the image analysis.
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