Belarusian Political System: The Effect of Mentality or Applied Geopolitics?

• In Event: Belarus II: Belarusian Politics after 2020: From Repressions to Liberation

Abstract

After declaring independence in 1990, Belarus enjoyed democracy for several years. From 1994 onwards, the political system became authoritarian until it reached the level of a dictatorship. The aim of the paper is to examine to what extent the political system in Belarus of today is the result of the mental models (subjective images of the world deeply rooted in culture) of its inhabitants, and to what extent the liberation and emergence of democracy is constrained by Russian imperial policy. The paper is based on a historical analysis and mainly on a study of the political and economic mentality of Belarusians carried out in 2023 as part of a project by the National Centre for Research and Development (Poland). We have come to the conclusion that while culture and mental models are indeed an important factor in shaping political and economic systems, they are not the only ones that determine this shape. The geopolitical context in which a country operates can also be of great importance. In the case of Belarus, mental models (in our opinion) were decisive in the 1990s for the directions the country took. Later, the dictator's increasingly powerful external protector – Russia did not allow political change in Belarus, despite generational and mental shifts. This was demonstrated by the brutally suppressed civil protests (2020-2021) after the rigged presidential elections.

Authors

• Andrzej Pieczewski, U of Łódź (Poland)

• Kacper Maciej Szpotański, U of Łódź (Poland)