This book presents a comprehensive overview of current developments in Belarus. It explores how there has been an upswelling of popular support for the idea that Belarus must change. It highlights how the old regime, aiming to retain the Soviet legacy, reluctant to reform, presiding over worsening economic conditions and refusing to take measures to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, has been confronted by increasing bottom-up and horizontal social mobilisation which demands a transformation of state-society relations and a new sense of Belarusian peoplehood. The book outlines how the current situation has developed, considers how the present demands for change are deep-seated and long-brewing trends, and reveals much detail about many aspects of the growing societal mobilisation. Overall, the book demonstrates that, although the old regime remains in power, Belarusian society has changed fundamentally, thereby bringing great hope that change will eventually come about.
Author(s): Elena Korosteleva, Irina Petrova, Anastasiia Kudlenko
Series: BASEES/Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 236
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Foreword
Introduction
Part I History, Identity, and Politics Revisited
Chapter 1 The Political Symbols and Concepts of Statehood in the Modern History of Belarus
Chapter 2 The ‘Genocide of Belarusians’ and the Survival of Lukashenka’s Regime
Chapter 3 The Soviet Roots of the 2020 Protests: The Unlikely History of Belarusian Civic Nationalism
Chapter 4 Foreign Policy Manifestations of Belarus’ 2020 Protest Movement: In-betweenness as Usual?
Part II Socio-Economic and Institutional Landscapes
Chapter 5 Stolen Decades: The Unfulfilled Expectations of the Belarusian Economic Miracle
Chapter 6 COVID-19 in Belarus: Politics, Protests, and Public Health
Chapter 7 The Belarusian Judicial System: What Can We Learn from Georgia and Ukraine’s Struggle for the Independent Judiciary?
Chapter 8 Belarusian Law as an Agent of Change
Part III Reclaiming Public Space and Fostering Peoplehood
Chapter 9 Social Movements and Political Change in Belarus in 2020 and After
Chapter 10 Societal Self-Organization in Belarus Post-2020: The Rise of Peoplehood
Chapter 11 Activating and Negotiating Women’s Citizenship in the 2020 Belarusian Uprising
Chapter 12 Tracing the Emergence of Peoplehood in Belarus and Ukraine: A Comparative Study
Chapter 13 Where Does Belarus Go from Here?
Index
