Colour Revolutions – Power, Paranoia, and the Technology of Regime Change - Ivana Stradner Interview

‘Colour Revolutions’ is a concept that is central to how Russia interprets the intentions of the Western allies – which it perceives to be its enemies. This term is not discussed much in the media but is central to and intrinsic to how it makes foreign policy decisions – including its aggression against Ukraine since 2014. A monograph was published in 2015 by two political sciences and experts in Geopolitics from Russia. This paper has apparently been very influential in Russia foreign policy circles, and it provides a window into the thinking of the Russian elite and foreign policy establishment that is totally alien to a Western way of thinking and foreign policy foundations. Today I am unpacking this concept of ‘Colour Revolutions’ with the help of Ivana Stradner.

Dr. Ivana Stradner serves as an advisor to FDD’s Barish Center for Media Integrity and is a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Her research broadly focuses on the intersection of international law and security. Specifically, she concentrates on cyberspace, cyberattacks, and Russian hybrid warfare. She also lectures on international law, international institutions, EU law, international security, and comparative legal history. Before joining AEI, Dr. Stradner worked as a visiting scholar at Harvard University and a lecturer for a variety of universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and the Faculty of Law at the University of Belgrade. She also served as a legal associate in the Serbian Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government. Dr. Stradner has been published in several academic journals and the popular press, including The Washington Post, The National Interest, RealClearWorld and Defense, Newsweek, National Review, and Foreign Policy. Because of her work to better understand Russian hybrid warfare in Eastern Europe, Dr. Stradner has been asked to testify before the EU Parliament and brief various government officials on the threat posed by revisionist powers such as Russia.