Belarus hosts events focused on Belarus's place in the region, the role of FDI in modernisation of the Belarusian economy, and corporate social responsibility. Street artists from different countries will paint Minsk walls based on urban folklore during the Urban...
Gunnar Wiegand, the top EU official for the CIS region, visited Minsk last week to continue active dialogue on modernisation. His unexpected avoidance of Belarus' titular opposition raised concerns in their ranks about a possible shift in policy in...
On 20 May Aliaksandr Lukashenka gave an interview to independent Russian TV Rain, a station known for being critical of the Putin regime. The interviewer was Ksenia Sobchak, previously a well-known socialite and now opposition activist. Lukashenka demonstrated his independence of mind on the events that had been unfolding in the...
On 25 May the final game between the teams of Russia and Finland brought the Ice Hockey World Cup in Minsk to an end. The biggest international event in Belarus’ sovereign history lasted for 17 days and turned Minsk...
At the end of April, the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies published the results of two polls. The polls demonstrate that the crisis in Ukraine became an informational tidal wave that has been sweeping over Belarus, with 90%...
On 24 February the coordinator of the "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections" initiative Valiantsin Stefanovich called the upcoming 23 March 2014 local elections in Belarus "an invisible campaign." His point is not without merit, when considering the total passiveness, apathy...
In early January 2014 the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS) published its December 2013 poll results for various domains of public opinion. Though some people, including opposition politicians and activists, doubt this institute's ability to handle a proper social...
The Centre for Transition Studies kicks off Belarus Profile - a searchable online database that contains the biographic information of over 200 people influential in Belarus. Belarus Profile differs from other who is who projects not only in its scope but also because...
The regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka rejected the ethno-national model of state suggested by his predecessors in the early 1990s.Instead, he restored a soviet style “statist nation” with a centralised bureaucratic machine at its core. These are the conclusions reached in...
In recent months, two political prisoners, Źmicier Daškievič and Paval Seviaryniec, completed their incarceration and compulsory labour terms. Both promote Christian politics and are going to keep on struggling with the regime in the upcoming 2014 and 2015 elections. Belarus remains the least religious country...
On 6 August 2013 Alexander Lukashenka held a meeting with top officials on the proposed changes to the Election Code. Some of the announced changes could potentially serve to further tighten the government's control over elections.Meanwhile, the officials’ rhetoric...
Last week, the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS) released a new ranking of Belarusian political activists based on media coverage in January-March 2013.The BISS study suggests an undersupply of political initiative among Belarusian political figures. According...
In 2012 the majority of all NGOs registered in Belarus were sport-related. State-funded Belarusian Dumka discussed options for political modernization. Belarus is among top countries in EU visas refusal - fresh BISS study reveals. According to a Belsat study, Belarusians are...
On 18 January the Eastern European Studies Centre and Belarus Research Council organised a panel “What Belarusians Think?”. The participants discussed the results of the December social survey conducted by the Independent Institute for Socio-Economic and Political Studies. Professor Oleg Manaev, director of the IISEPS, presented and analysed...