1945-1991






Belarus since 1991



Ex-Communist Alexander Lukashenko became the dominating figure in Belorussian politics. In 1994 elected president, he maintains a solid hold onto political power, the opposition resorting to occasional demonstrations against what they see abuse of power by the president.
Belarus, after independence, pursued the policy of seeking close ties with Russia; in 1996 Belarus and Russia entered an economic union. Belarus' relations with Poland (over the treatment of ethnic Polish citizens of Belarus) and with the EU are strained; the EU twice imposed a travel ban against President Lukashenko.
Belarus is dependent on cheap imports of Russianh oil and gas; the transition from communist planned economy to free market economy, as far as it was implemented, resulted in a severe crisis. Following two bad harvests, in 1998 the Belorussian Rouble was devalued by half, and temporarily food rationing was introduced. In the last years, Belorussia's economy recovered, showing a growth rate of 11 % in 2004. The population dropped from an estimated 10,180,000 in 1991 to an estimated 9,950,000 in 2002.







EXTERNAL
FILES 		Timeline Belarus, from BBC News
Political Resources on the Net - Belarus
Article Politics of Belarus, from Wikipedia
Article Economy of Belarus, from Wikipedia
DOCUMENTS World Statesmen : Belarus, by Ben Cahoon
Historical Population Statistics : Belgium, from Population Statistics at Univ. Utrecht
Election Results, from Psephos (since 2001); from IFES Election Guide (since 2000); Belarus, from Elections and Electoral Systems
REFERENCE Article : Belarus, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1993 pp.427-428, 562, 1994 pp.424, 562, 1995 pp.378, 562, 1996 pp.376-377, 562, 1997 pp.395-396, 560, 2002 pp.393-394, 556 [G]
Article : Commonwealth of Independent States : Belorussia, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1992-1993 pp.416-418, 1993-1994 pp.418-421, 1994-1995 pp.406-409, 1995-1996 pp.395-398 [G]
Article : Belarus, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1996-1997 pp.191-194, 1997-1998 pp.197-202, 1998-1999 pp.222-226, 2000 pp.270-275, 2001 pp.265-269, 2002 pp.276-281, 2003 pp.275-280, 2004 pp.277-282, 2005 pp.270-275, 2006 pp.267-272 [G]
Entry : Travel Warning - Belarus, pp.418-420, in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2000, Supplement [G]
Entry : Republic of Belarus, Cabinet p.11-12, Background Notes : Belarus, pp.286-292, in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2003 [G]
Entry : Belarus, pp.256-261 in : IMF, International Financial Statistics Yearbook 2001 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on October 30th 2006, last revised on March 13th 2007

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