Belarusian Review

After twenty years of its independence, Belarus can hardly be characterized as a well-known country in the world. Indeed, many people do know that such a country exists, and many can name certain events, people or sport teams that are associated in their minds with Belarus. Probably the most internationally known Belarusian “brands” are Chornobyl and Lukašenka. The Chornobyl tragedy brings empathy toward the Belarusian people from abroad but after 25 years it is fading from the media headlines. The second Belarusian “brand” is its first and still current president Aliaksandr Lukašenka who has ruled the country for seventeen out of the twenty years of modern Belarusian independence. Lukašenka, who is often being called “Europe’s last dictator”, has brought the country quite dubious fame. Beyond any doubt, he has contributed to the recognisability of Belarus in the world but this recognisability is strongly linked with his apparently authoritarian ruling practices. Hence, Belarus is largely known abroad for its current political situation and thus is labeled as “Europe’s last dictatorship”, “European Burma” (T.G. Ash) or other similar names. Again, such recognisability brings nothing else but empathy toward the nation.