Belarus in the Time of Crisis

Since the mid-1990s, the perspective on Belarus that Western authors have been guided by has been the promotion of democracy and the perceived necessity to fight the authoritarian regime. However, repeated failure in this area has called attention to the inadequacy of the research informing this approach. This book considers the fundamental issue of handling society pervaded by a schism or fundamental disunion in terms of values and geopolitical issues. Belarus in the Time of Crisis considers the societal split between the pro-Russian and pro-Western Belarusians, the relationships between these two segments of society, and the Belarusian political regime to be the internal factors of political change in Belarus. In contrast, the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the Western sanctions imposed on Belarus are the external factors. As a relatively small country squeezed between the two centers of power, Russia and the European Union, Belarus has always stood out for the exceptional role of external influences on all aspects of its existence.