Authors

Discussion

This paper examines developments in Belarus since 2020, when unprecedented mass peaceful protests occurred, and the authoritarian regime responded with severe repression. Many politically active Belarusians were arrested, became political prisoners, or were forced to flee the country. Since then, the regime has increasingly utilised state violence and criminalised not only protests but also broader civic activism, including acts of solidarity with political prisoners.

Despite these harsh conditions, civil society continues to persist. In the Belarusian case, civil society has adapted to operate in a hostile domestic environment while also engaging in transnational solidarity from exile. Supporting political prisoners has become one of the forms of civic resistance, challenging the authoritarian state and developing innovative approaches to navigating political repression. This study focuses on how Belarusian civil society "learns" to resist and stay resilient, identifying patterns and regularities in attitudes and behaviour that emerge in response to repression. We apply the lenses of democratic adaptation and innovation, using Dolowitz and Marsh's (1996) seven categories of learning: policy goals, structure, and content; policy instruments; administrative techniques; institutions; ideology; attitudes, ideas, and concepts; and negative lessons.

We begin by addressing the "demand" side of support for political prisoners, presenting relevant statistics and discussing the conditions they face. Then, we turn to the "supply" side, analysing how civil society learns to support political prisoners under the regime's escalating repression. Political sociology provides valuable insights into how practices evolve, adapt, and are reinterpreted by relevant actors. We explore how civil society learns from external "best practices" and experiences and how these practices are adapted to the Belarusian context. The empirical section categorises and examines various initiatives, networks, and organisations that either existed before 2020 or emerged afterwards, both inside and outside Belarus, to support political prisoners.

The study aims to answer two key questions: How does Belarusian civil society, in the face of increasingly brutal repression, sustain everyday support for political prisoners? How do these groups adjust and learn to remain resilient under these conditions? Civil society is broadly defined to include human rights organisations, civil society initiatives, networks, activist groups, and individual supporters of political prisoners both within and outside Belarus.

The study period (early autumn 2020 to late spring 2025) captures the intensification and expansion of repression in Belarus. The primary data is drawn from qualitative semi-structured interviews with civic activists and experts supporting political prisoners. Additionally, we analyse a wide range of secondary sources, including official websites, media channel