Europe's Last Dictatorship: The Roots and Perspectives of Authoritarianism in 'White Russia'

The Republic of Belarus remains one of the lesser known of the former Soviet republics and is perceived increasingly as an anomaly among European states: a throwback to Soviet times run by a president who has amended the constitution in three state-engineered referendums (1995, 1996, and 2004) that have ostensibly guaranteed him a lifetime presidency. He is shunned by the world's democratic powers; indeed, a former US ambassador referred tot he country as 'the Cuba of Europe' and to President Alyaksander Lukashenka as a 'dictator.' The president has not always had such a negative reputation. In early 1994, before independent Belarus held its first presidential election, Lukashenka was sometimes perceived as one of the more radical deputies in the Supreme Soviet and one with some views in common with opposition leaders. One perspective on Belarussian development under Lukshenka has been offered by US-based scholar Grigorii Ioffe.