
// Pathways to Peace and Security. 2020. No 2(59). P. 150-166
Abstract. For a long time, the research of Belarusian foreign policy evolved within the framework of neorealism, with the main attention paid to structural factors (external environment) and, to a very limited extent, to internal environment. The specifics of the Belarusian political system – the so-called superpresidential personalist republic, where power is concentrated primarily in hand of one person – made it meaningless to study the vast variety of other domestic actors, who hardly influenced the foreign policy decision-making process. Nevertheless, the political crisis in Belarus in the second half of 2020 has raised a critical question of inevitable evolution and transformation of the domestic socio-political environment. The result will be greater involvement in the foreign policy making of those “hidden actors” who haven’t yet come into the spotlight. It is not possible to predict the format or timing of this to happen. However, new political circumstances in Belarus increase the relevance of studying such actors, their demands, interests, and potential links to the current or future foreign policy of Belarus.
Keywords: foreign policy, Belarus, Lukashenko, political system, domestic actors, neorealism, foreign policy analysis, post-Soviet space, Russia, the EU
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