Foreign policy of Belarus and the evolution of its domestic political environment

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Foreign policy of Belarus and the evolution of its domestic political environment
// Pathways to Peace and Security. 2020. No 2(59). P. 150-166

DOI: 10.20542/2307-1494-2020-2-150-166
Andrei Skriba is a Senior Research Fellow at Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow. Corresponding author: askriba@hse.ru;
Anna Drozdova is an Intern Researcher at the International Laboratory on World Order Studies and the New Regionalism, National Research Institute of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow

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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For citation:
Skriba A., Drozdova A. Foreign policy of Belarus and the evolution of its domestic political environment. Pathways to Peace and Security, 2020, No 2(59), pp. 150-166. https://doi.org/10.20542/2307-1494-2020-2-150-166



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