How the power pyramid of the authoritarian state is learning to repress political dissent: special glances at the case of women in Belarus

This paper focuses on repressions deployed by the authoritarian state in Belarus against its citizens and, especially, against women who engage in political dissent. If until summer 2020, women were less visible among political opposition in Belarus, since early autumn 2020 unprecedently and relentlessly, they became an integral part of its politically active and then persecuted population. We inquire how the Lukashenka’s government learns and/or sophisticates its strategies in destroying, pre-emption and punishment for any anti-regime activity, in deterring prospective dissidents and in demobilizing population at large. We concentrate on accumulation, dissemination and proliferation of competences and practices of political repressions in Belarus, showcasing their recent adaptations and innovations targeted at dissident women. In autocratic cultures the very repertoire of repressive practices, their technicalities and practical implementation are under-researched as access to the information about them is very problematic. However, one can analyze what authoritarian agents publicly claim about repressions, what regulations and repressive tools they design and use, what direct victims of repressions and observers testify and report about repressions. For the purposes of this research, we have developed a model of a three-level pyramid of authoritarian agents who in one or another way engage into repressions of political dissent. The first one (top level) includes political leadership. The second one consists of institutional and organizational executives (representatives of media, judicial, penitentiary, etc. establishments, state officials and public servants). The third (the lowest) level comprises a multitude of low-rank officials and employees who on an everyday basis execute and implement repressive decisions and orders. As to various facets of policy learning and adaptation, we differentiate several modes of learning (cognitive and behavioral; experiential and social, operational/technocratic and strategic/ humanistic). We scrutinize specificities of learning and adaptation diagonally through the three hierarchically superimposed layers of the power pyramid. In empirical terms, our study is devoted to the continuity and change of repressive techniques. In 2024 July, there were 1400 political prisoners in Belarus among whom 342 women. In our research, we distinguish two periods of repressions in contemporary Belarus. Empirical observations spanning from 1996 till summer 2020 are drawn from the systematic review of existing academic and expert literature. The analysis of the developments of repressions and their eventual ‘engendering’ during the second (on-going since summer 2020) period is based our original series of semi-structured interviews with Belarusian women, who, because of their civic activities have been repressed. In parallel we assess a diverse set of official documents and publications of the Belarusian state-run media, contrasting and comparing them to reports of the human rights organizations. Our research shows that the patriarchal Lukashenka’s regime was ill prepared to deal with both – with the large scale multi-faceted political protest and with politically activated women, who in 2020 engaged into politics and therefore had to ‘catch-up’ with the unfolding events, learn and adapt. Since 2020, the Belarusian regime expands the notion of politics and by activities of its repressive power pyramid entrenches the traditional gender roles.