Rethinking the International Diffusion of Coloured Revolutions: The Power of Representation in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

It is commonly argued that the international diffusion of post-socialist ‘coloured revolutions’ culminated in the overthrow of the Akaev government in Kyrgyzstan in March 2005. This raises an important theoretical debate about the nature of contagion, diffusion and emulation (how different cases are linked across space and time) in the context of the particular case of the Tulip revolution (what happened and is continuing to happen in Kyrgyzstan). These changes of regime were linked by a common point of reference, the idea of the ‘coloured revolution’, whereby participants in Kyrgyzstan were inspired by representations of the earlier uprisings. However, this link was symbolic and contingent rather than normative and determined. Rather than following a single model or innovating upon an objectively existing example, coloured revolutions were mediated by the power of representation.