From actors to practices: new typology of opposition from Russia and Belarus

It is a paradox when the opposition does not oppose. Yet, political actors labelled as “opposition” often facilitate authoritarian rule rather than resist it. This article resolves this paradox by shifting focus from actors to “opposition practices”, redefining what “opposition” means. Political actors belong to the opposition not because of their formal affiliations or titles, but because they undertake practices that challenge governments. Whilst traditional actor-based classifications of opposition may impose restrictive self-conceptions on opposition agents, this research provides fine-grained insights into their performance. It draws on an ideal-type analysis of 75 semi-structured interviews with Russian and Belarusian activists and experts conducted in 2023–2024, triangulated with public texts. The study reveals a novel typology comprising four opposition types: professional, venture, casual, and actualized. This typology allows a better understanding of diverse and often unconventional opposition participation observed in Russia and Belarus, but it is potentially transferable to research on non-governmental actors across systems.