National Awakening and National Consciousness in Belarus

Bibliographic Data

ID11047451
AuthorsDavid R Marples (University of Alberta, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume27
Issue4
Pages565-578
Publication date1999-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNationalities Papers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-5992 • E-ISSN: 1465-3923
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1080/009059999108830
OpenAlexW2006350666
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited3

A frequent assertion about the recent events and pervasive mood in Belarus—the apparent efforts to reunite with Russia, the virtual denial of a Belarusian identity by a Russophone president, official nostalgia for the time of the former Soviet Union— is that national consciousness is somehow retarded or delayed, and national development is lagging considerably behind that of its neighboring states, Lithuania and Ukraine. This article seeks to address the question of national self-awareness in Belarus from three angles: those of demography, culture, and language. Was development of the republic in the Soviet period different from that of the other republics, and is that development responsible for what has been described as the “national nihilism” of today? Is that mood likely to change with a new generation of Belarusians? How far is President Alyaksander Lukashenka, the first president of Belarus, who was elected in July 1994, responsible for the present situation and how far is he a symptom of the notable lack of self-assertion of Belarusians

Assertion · Consciousness · Denial · Economic history · Lagging · National consciousness · National identity · National security · Nihilism · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Soviet union · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · European Politics and Security · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Law · Medicine · Psychology

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