Belarus: The Last European DictatorshipThis book is the first in English to explore both Belarus's complicated road to nationhood and to examine in detail its politics and economics since 1991, the nation's first year of true independence. Andrew Wilson focuses particular attention on Aliaksandr Lukashenka's surprising longevity as president, despite human rights abuses and involvement in yet another rigged election in December 2010.Wilson looks at Belarusian history as a series of false starts in the medieval and pre-modern periods, and at the many rival versions of Belarusian identity, culminating with the Soviet Belarusian project and the establishment of Belarus's current borders during World War II. He also addresses Belarus's on-off relationship with Russia, its simultaneous attempts to play a game of balance in the no-man's-land between Russia and the West, and how, paradoxically, Belarus is at last becoming a true nation under the rule of Europe's "last dictator." |
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According Aliaksandr Baltic Belarus Belarusi Belarusian historians Belarusian language Belarusian national belorusskogo Black Rus Bolsheviks Brest Bulhakaw campaign cent centre century claimed Commonwealth Communist Cossack culture Dnieper early east Slavic Eastern economic election elite ethnic Feduta German Grand Duchy guberniia Hanchar Henadz historyia nezalezhnai Belarusi Hrodna Ibid idea identity independent Istoriia Jews Kazulin Kebich Kiev Kryvichy language Latyshonak leader Lithuanian Litva Lukashenka Mahilew Mikhail Milinkevich million Minsk Moscow Muscovy myth Narys historyi Belarusi Nasha Niva nationalist Navahrudak nomenklatura opposition Orange Revolution organised Orthodox Church parliament partisans Party passim Pazniak Poland Polatsk Poles Polish political Politicheskaia biografiia population president Protestant Prypiat Putin referendum regime region Republic Revolution Roman Catholic Russian Ruthenian Sahanovich Shushkevich Shybeka Siarhei Slutsk Smalianchuk Smolensk Soviet territory tribes Ukraine Ukrainian Uladzimir Uniate Uniate Church Union Usiaslaw USSR viii Viktar Vilna Vilnius Vitsebsk vote west-Russians Western Yatvingians Yeltsin