COLOR REVOLUTIONS

The term “color revolution” has been applied to a number of political upheavals across the former Soviet Union, beginning with the Rose Revolution inGeorgia(2003), the Orange Revolution inUkraine(2004–2005), and the Tulip Revolution inKyrgyzstan(2005).

In Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, a sitting president was ousted by street protests that employed no or low levels of violence. In Ukraine, the results of a hotly contested election to replace the incumbent led to similar political action, resulting in the ultimate victory of Viktor Yushchenko over the pro-Russian candidate, Viktor Yanukovych.In the first two instances, theUnited Statesand other Western powers strongly backed the antiestablishment forces, whereas Washington had little public involvement in Kyrgyzstan events.

The antiauthoritarian bent of the protestors and Western backing (primarily through distribution of information, nongovernmental organizations, andcivil society–building tools), combined with Russia’s loss of influence in Georgia, Ukraine, and—at least initially— Kyrgyzstan, resulted inVladimir Putintaking a strident stand against further “color revolutions” in post-Soviet space. Consequently, Putin provided unflinching support to Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov when he violently crushed an uprising in the Andijan province in 2005. Putin gave substantial support to Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime inBelaruswhen it faced a popular election in 2006, thus averting the “Jeans Revolution” promised by the opposition. At home, Putin consolidated the Kremlin’s control of the mainstreammediaand formed pro-state youth groups such asNashito prevent similar uprisings against his increasingly neo-authoritarian rule. Fearful of Western-backed regime change via such uprisings, other members of theCommonwealth of Independent States(CIS), includingKazakhstanandArmenia, have made their opposition to such “revolutions” known. Moscow has used this fear to expand its own influence in the “managed democracies” of the CIS.

See alsoForeign relations.