2008-03-19T01:26:54Z https://www.thenewfederalist.eu/Who-will-Rock-Belarus#comment4035 2008-03-19T01:26:54Z

<p>Thanks a lot for your comment.</p> <p>Indeed, opposition leaders in many non-democratic and newly-democratic countries are an imperfect alternative to the binge power-holders.</p> <p>Democracy and the necessary process of ageing</p> <p>Mr Yushchenko and Mrs Tymoshenko were far from being politically pure at the moment of the Orange change and yet there was a wide-spread belief that there were more benefits than drawbacks in voting out the Kuchma-supported candidate. Other countries, like Poland, where democracy was re-established almost 20 years ago, still struggle to build a stable post-communist political elite. The never-ending changes in the party labels make it hard to define and to rely on the Political Supply in Polish politics.</p> <p>Civil Society and the law of Supply and Demand</p> <p>In politics, as in economics, Supply and Demand can only meet if Supply is not controlled and repressed by a Monopolist. In a Democratic State, Civil Society is a Market where Citizens, on one hand, communicate their needs and wants and on the other, organize themselves in advocacy and opinion groups. It is a political back-stage of Democracy where politics develops through dialogue and debates.</p> <p>If the opposition in Belarus is not appealing to a Western eye it is because it has not developed in a Western-style Liberal Political Market. If the EU sticks to its goals of empowering the Civil Society in Belarus, it may do a very good job. If the European and International Civil Society gets more engaged, it may catalyze a real change.</p> <p>When JEF calls on the EU to give the People of Belarus a Voice, it campaigns for enabling the People of Belarus to develop decent conditions wherein a Civil Society can survive and thrive.</p>

2008-03-17T16:59:48Z https://www.thenewfederalist.eu/Who-will-Rock-Belarus#comment4029 2008-03-17T16:59:48Z

<p>A very good article, one of the best I read on Belorussia. Yes, indeed, European Union doesn't really have a coherent foriegn policy, especially on the Eastern front. But the problem is that the civil society you are talking about is unfortunatly useless, because it doesn't really have a political program. Look at belorussian opposition leaders : Milinkevitch looks like a noble from 19 th century without any political charimsa, whereas Kozulin reminds me Jirynovsky, because he opposes Lukashenko without any purpose. I sometimes think that he doesn't even know why he opposes him... Moreover, their reserved attitude towards Russia, to which, as far as I know, the majority of belarussian are attached, doesn't allow them to have a real popularity. I don't want to advocate Lukachenko, but I don't really see any alternative to him in today's Belarus.</p>