Elena Korosteleva is Professor of Politics and Global Sustainable Development, and Director of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development (IGSD), University of Warwick, UK.

Irina Petrova is Assistant Professor, School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London (UCL), UK.

Anastasiia Kudlenko is Research Fellow at the Institute for Global Sustainable Development (IGSD), University of Warwick, UK.

Foreword

Introduction

Part I. History, Identity, and Politics Revisited

1 The Political Symbols and Concepts of Statehood in the Modern History of Belarus

2 The 'Genocide of Belarusians' and the Survival of Lukashenka's Regime

3 The Soviet Roots of the 2020 Protests: The Unlikely History of Belarusian Civic Nationalism

4 Foreign Policy Manifestations of Belarus' 2020 Protest Movement: In-betweenness as Usual?

PART II: Socio-Economic and Institutional Landscapes

5 Stolen Decades: The Unfulfilled Expectations of the Belarusian Economic Miracle

6 COVID-19 in Belarus: Politics, Protests, and Public Health

7 The Belarusian Judicial System: What Can We Learn from Georgia and Ukraine's Struggle for the Independent Judiciary?

8 Belarusian Law as an Agent of Change

PART III: Reclaiming Public Space and Fostering Peoplehood

9 Social Movements and Political Change in Belarus in 2020 and After

10 Societal Self-Organization in Belarus Post-2020: The Rise of Peoplehood

11 Activating and Negotiating Women's Citizenship in the 2020 Belarusian Uprising

12 Tracing the Emergence of Peoplehood in Belarus and Ukraine: A Comparative Study

13 Where Does Belarus Go from Here?

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.