"Spiral of silence" in election campaigns in post-communist society: (A case of Belarus)

This article analyses the ‘spiral of silence’ as a mechanism of political communication in post-Communist Belarus in the cases of the presidential elections in 2001 and the general election in 2008, using methods of public opinion polls and content analysis of Belarusian state-run press.

"Spiral of silence" in election campaigns in post-communist society: The case of Belarus

Oleg Manaev

Belarusian State University

Natalie Manayeva and Dzmitry Yuran

University of Tennessee (Knoxville)

Theoretical framework

Individuals are pressured by others to conform to standards of dress, behaviour and attitudes in a wide range of circumstances, even when the pressure comes from outside social circles. German sociologist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann took the idea of group pressure to conform and added another component: the influence of the media. Noelle-Neumann posited that public opinion is formed as individuals try to determine whether their opinions are in the majority...

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