Reassembling Society in a Nation-State
History, Language, and Identity Discourses of Belarus
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11048827 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nelly Bekus (0000-0001-7206-0019, University of Exeter, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 98-113 |
| Publication date | 2023-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Nationalities Papers (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-5992 • E-ISSN: 1465-3923 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/nps.2022.60 |
| OpenAlex | W4283738769 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 31 |
The article examines the political and cultural processes of nation-building over thirty years of independence in Belarus. It argues that in becoming a nation-state Belarus has faced challenges similar to the other post-Soviet nations but has proved an exception in the choice of strategies it used to address them. The paper examines how, on the eve of independence, the nationalist elites devised policies aimed at consolidating statehood around the national revival in opposition to the Soviet past. It explores the role played by linguistic policy and historical memory as the two main arenas for implementing their visions of Belarusian identity. The paper then maps a shift in this trajectory from Lukashenka’s rise to power to a national project based on reappropriation of Soviet legacy. Up until 2020, the state effectively navigated a geopolitical environment and adjusted its sociocultural parameters to preempt the society’s shifting expectations. Finally, the paper reflects on how protests in 2020 demonstrated both the lack of support for Lukashenka and his reliance on the violent repression and external support for remaining in power. The war in Ukraine revealed limits of Belarus’s sovereignty, while the society’s ability to consolidate for its defense has been seriously undermined by the repression
Geopolitics · Independence (probability theory · Nation-building · National identity · Nationalism · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Sovereignty · State (computer science · Uzbek · Vision · Anthropology · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · European Politics and Security · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · Law
The Soviet Pillar of Belonging
Introduction to the Special Issue on Protest and Authoritarian Reaction in Belarus
The discourse of the European Union on the 2020 Belarusian civic protests
The creativity of the resistance after the 2020 Belarusian presidential election
The Populist Name Game
The Dynamics of Mass Mobilization in Belarus
(Re)vivre l’exil
Nation‐Building in the Wake of Empire
Lukashenka’s Constitutional Plebiscite and the Polarization of Belarusian Society
Five Unknown Facts about
Britain, Europe and National Identity
Belarus under Lukashenka
Living the High Life in Minsk
War and Memory in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus
Nationalism Reframed
Belarus’ new political nation? 2020 anti-authoritarian protests as identity building
National Metanarratives after Communism
Soviet Society in the Era of Late Socialism, 1964–1985
Our Glorious Past’. Lukashenka’s Belarus and the Great Patriotic War
Ideological Recycling of the Socialist Legacy. Reading Townscapes of Minsk and Astana
Russian-speaking Belarusian Nationalism
Europe's others and the return of geopolitics
Aid Paradox
Identity in an Autocratic State
Constructing the Self and Changing Others
The 2020 Presidential Election in Belarus
Multilingualism in the Soviet Union
Thinking Theoretically about Soviet Nationalities
Ethnicity and Nationalism in Europe Today
Self and Other in International Relations
Post-Soviet Hauntology
Agency of internal transnationalism in social memory
Memory as a Cultural System
Class, Agency, and Citizenship in Belarusian Protest
Between Memory and History
Deer in Headlights
Belarusian Protest
Echo of 1989? Protest Imaginaries and Identity Dilemmas in Belarus
What Remains? Anti-Communism, Forensic Archaeology, and the Retelling of the National Past in Lithuania and Romania
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |