This book provides a thorough overview of current developments in Belarus. It looks at historical, political, economic and social changes, and at international relations, especially relations with Russia and the European Union.

1. Introduction: paradoxes of democratisation in post-communist Belarus E. Korosteleva , Colin Lawson and Rosalind Marsh 2. History and politics in post-Soviet Belarus: the foundations David Marples 3. Explaining post-communist authoritarianism in Belarus Vital Silitski 4. Difficulties of elite formation in Belarus after 1991 Olga Belova-Gille 5. Party system development in post-communist Belarus Elena Korosteleva 6. Electoral politics of Belarus compared Christian Haerpfer 7. President and opposition: specific features of the Belarusian political scene David Rotman and Aliaksandr Danilov 8. Belarus: in search of national identity between 1986 and 2000 Jan Zaprudnik 9. Path-dependence and the economy of Belarus: the consequences of late reforms Colin Lawson 10. Economic policy in Belarus from official and oppositional perspectives Nagezhda Lisovskaia and Julia Korosteleva 11. Russia and Belarus: the quest for the union; or who will pay for Belarus' s path to recovery Anastasia Nesvetailova 12. Belarus's external relations Denis Krivosheev 13. Belarus's relations wit the European Union: a western perspective Teresa Dumasy 14. Afterword: the presidential election of September 2001Index