Depoliticization and Necropolitics: A Critical Examination of Lukashenka's Regime

This article examines the intertwined logics of depoliticization and necropolitics as central elements of illiberal authoritarian power in post-2020 Belarus. It sheds light on the technologies used by Lukashenka's regime to maintain its rule, including anti-feminist visuals, violence of mass incarceration, and dehumanization and demonization of political opponents. Relying on media analysis, the article discusses how these technologies function as mechanisms through which the regime enacts its necropolitical power to curtail any political engagement. Juxtaposing politicization with depoliticization and biopolitics with necropolitics, it advances a different understanding of these concepts in illiberal autocracies, emphasizing their mutually reinforcing relationship in Belarus.