Kolloquium

This research addresses the nature of police activities in an authoritarian setting, with a specific focus on physical violence carried out by police officers. The research specifically focuses on the history of police violence in Belarus, a country that failed in its transition to democracy and maintained the majority of Soviet security service practices. By tracing the evolution of policing from the late Soviet period to the present, the research seeks to identify factors contributing to the establishment of a culture that legitimizes violence and repression. It explores how the police in Belarus is organized and analyzes the goals and objectives of the police by contrasting the stated goals of law enforcement with the often-hidden agendas driven by political power dynamics. The research also addressed the ways the police force is selected, trained, and develops its occupational culture in order to identify the roots of institutionalized violence and repression.