Youth Movements and Elections in Belarus OLENA NIKOLAYENKO Abstract This article offers a contribution to the comparative democratisation literature by analysing the use of non- violent methods of resistance in a repressive political regime. It focuses on the role of youth movements in elections in Belarus. Elections present an opportunity for the engagement of youth in politics. The study examines how the youth movements Malady Front, Zubr and Belarusian Patriotic Youth Union sought to mobilise young people during the 2001 election. It analyses movement tactics and state action in response to youth mobilisation. ELECTIONS PRESENT AMPLE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT. Opinion polls indicate that citizens tend to consume a larger amount of political news and discuss politics more frequently with their family and friends during an election year (Rosenstone & Hansen 1993). Furthermore, citizens have an opportunity to engage in politics by volunteering for a political campaign. Finally, the act of voting enables the electorate to express their political preferences and vote incompetent politicians out of office. An additional significance of elections in non-democratic regimes is that it gives citizens a chance to signal their level of support for the current regime. 1 The authoritarian incumbent tends to look upon elections as a mechanism of legitimising and maintaining his rule, whereas the political opposition sees elections as a vehicle for regime change. Hence, numerous political actors strive to boost the level of civic engagement during an election period. This study examines how Belarusian youth movements sought to mobilise young people during the 2001 presidential election. The empirical analysis focuses on two youth Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, Stanford University, March 2009; the Department of Sociology, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine, March 2010; and the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Nationalities, New York City, April 2012. I thank Larry Diamond, Kathryn Stoner-Weiss and, in particular, Michael McFaul for hosting me at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law during the early stages of this research and the Department of Political Science at Fordham University for a supportive environment during the completion of this project. I also thank the journal’s editor and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2007–2009 SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship); the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, and the First Year Faculty Research Grant at Fordham University. 1 On the role of elections in autocracies, see Gandhi and Lust-Okar (2009). EUROPE-ASIA STUDIES Vol. 67, No. 3, May 2015, 468–492 ISSN 0966-8136 print; ISSN 1465-3427 online/15/300468–25 q 2015 University of Glasgow http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2015.1018870 Downloaded by [Fordham University] at 08:07 07 May 2015