Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship

This book is the first in English to explore both Belarus'scomplicated road to nationhood and to examine in detail itspolitics and economics since 1991, the nation's first year of trueindependence. Andrew Wilson focuses particular attention onAliaksandr Lukashenka's surprising longevity as president, despitehuman rights abuses and involvement in yet another rigged electionin December 2010.Wilson looks at Belarusian history as a series of false startsin the medieval and pre-modern periods, and at the many rivalversions of Belarusian identity, culminating with the SovietBelarusian project and the establishment of Belarus's currentborders during World War II. He also addresses Belarus's on-offrelationship with Russia, its simultaneous attempts to play a gameof balance in the no-man's-land between Russia and the West, andhow, paradoxically, Belarus is at last becoming a true nation underthe rule of Europe's "last dictator.”