Engineered Revolutions in Kyrgyzstan: "Soft Power" Or "Hard Power"

Abstract

In 2005 and 2010, events called "color revolutions" took place in the Kyrgyz Republic. Despite the positive changes that have taken place in the political system over the past ten years, the situation remains unpredictable and quite difficult. This is due, inter alia, to the preservation in the country of informal relations and institutions of influence, which enter into confrontation with state bodies and structures. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the Kyrgyz North and South are noticeably different in socio-economic infrastructure. Since the Soviet Union in the North of Kyrgyzstan, the processes of industrialization and urbanization have been more intense, while the South has remained more of an agrarian subregion. In this article, the technicality of this process is considered. The "color revolution" as a political technology for organizing mass protests is investigated in comparison with the applicability of force. The thesis is justified that the line between peaceful protests ("soft power") and an armed coup ("hard power") is rather conditional. It is concluded that many of the applied technologies of "color revolutions," despite even vivid symbolism, become honed methods or step-by-step guidelines for changing the ruling elites and are less and less reminiscent of the classical revolutionary process. The significance of the study lies in the modern political-scientific conceptualization of the phenomenon of "color revolution" based on the convergence of the theories of "soft power" and "hard power" necessary to understand the current international processes and problems of the sustainable development of political regimes.