Zhou Ming Li Jiawei

Abstract：The two waves of international protest at the beginning of the 21st century, namely, the“Color Revolution” and the Arab Spring, are secretly related to each other. In this regard, academic circles at home and abroad hold two main views: one is to integrate the two into the global wave of democratization, and the other is to focus on analyzing the relationship and role of civil society in these two waves of protest. However, these two views have disadvantages such as ignoring regional structural conditions and exaggerating the applicability of the civil society perspective. In fact, the correlation could also be observed from a new research path at the national level. Kyrgyzstan’s two identities, both as a post-Soviet country and an Islamic country,enabled it to beregarded as an intermediary country that connected the past and the future during these two waves of protest. The two regime changes which occurred in Kyrgyzstan at the beginning of the 21st century and the two waves of international protest have similarities and differences. Kyrgyzstan both preceded the“Color Revolution”and followed the Arab Spring. It is of certain enlightening significance to look for an intermediary perspective at the national level, which helps to avoid the limitations caused by existing researches, either too macro or too micro, and then to provide a new way of thinking for thecross-regional comparative studies of resistance politics. Besides, it will also help to further understand conditions for the formation of protest waves by reflecting on these two international protest waves at the beginning of the 21st century.

Key Words:Waves of International Protest, “the Color Revolution”, the Arab Spring, Comparative Area Studies