Explaining the Colour Revolutions

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, post-communist countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia had gained their independence. However, the ex-Soviet system still exerted considerable influence on the political development of these countries. as a result of this influence, the majority of these countries were not able to attain democratic values and principles. Consequently, in most of these countries, the transition to democracy wasn't fully formed.

The fall of autocrats throughout post-communist Eurasia between 1996 and 2005 didn't always bring full-scale democracy. For this reason, these countries were referred to as "hybrid regimes" and their political systems resembled autocracy.

It seems important to mention that a large number of people managed to demonstrate their discontent by undertaking political upheavals against the autocratic regimes in their countries.

A number of political upheavals were known as a "bulldozer revolution" in Serbia in 2000, a "rose revolution" in Georgia in 2003, an "orange revolution" in Ukraine in 2004, and then a "tulip revolution" in Kyrgyzstan in early 2005 took place. Despite the fact that only the Orange revolution actually had a color, "color revolution" has become a popular term for referring to the four revolutions that occurred.

The "bulldozer revolution", for instance, took place as a result of stolen elections in Serbia. A large number of people took to the streets with the aim of demonstrating their discontent. In fact, auspicious conditions that may lead to the outburst of democratic revolutions can be easily foreseen in autocratic regimes. Therefore, the uprisings in Serbia were directed against the authoritarian leaders. However, it seems like toppling dictators isn't enough. Successful revolutions also need to embrace the rule of law.

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