This book provides a thorough overview of current developments in Belarus. It looks at historical, political, economic and social changes, and at international relations, especially relations with Russia and the European Union.

Elena Korosteleva, Colin Lawson, Rosalind Marsh

1. Introduction: paradoxes of democratisation in post-communist Belarus E. Korosteleva , Colin Lawson and Rosalind Marsh 2. History and politics in post-Soviet Belarus: the foundations David Marples 3. Explaining post-communist authoritarianism in Belarus Vital Silitski 4. Difficulties of elite formation in Belarus after 1991 Olga Belova-Gille 5. Party system development in post-communist Belarus Elena Korosteleva 6. Electoral politics of Belarus compared Christian Haerpfer 7. President and opposition: specific features of the Belarusian political scene David Rotman and Aliaksandr Danilov 8. Belarus: in search of national identity between 1986 and 2000 Jan Zaprudnik 9. Path-dependence and the economy of Belarus: the consequences of late reforms Colin Lawson 10. Economic policy in Belarus from official and oppositional perspectives Nagezhda Lisovskaia and Julia Korosteleva 11. Russia and Belarus: the quest for the union; or who will pay for Belarus' s path to recovery Anastasia Nesvetailova 12. Belarus's external relations Denis Krivosheev 13. Belarus's relations wit the European Union: a western perspective Teresa Dumasy 14. Afterword: the presidential election of September 2001Index