Exploring Belarus' Unique Identity And Distinction

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus has a population of 9.1 million people and spans an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi).

The country's name is closely related to the term Belaya Rus', or White Rus'. There are several theories as to the origin of the name, including an ethno-religious theory that suggests it was used to describe the part of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that had been populated mostly by early Christianized Slavs, as opposed to Black Ruthenia, which was predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts.

The term White Russia or Weißrussland is also used to refer to Belarus, particularly in German and Dutch media organisations, and in several European countries such as Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. However, this term has been criticised as politically incorrect and a remnant of Russian Tsarist political manipulation. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Belarus has emphasised the use of its official name, Republic of Belarus, in international communications and documents.

Belarus's name and its historical origins

The name Belarus is closely related to the term Belaya Rus', meaning White Rus'. There are several theories as to the origin of the name White Rus'. One ethno-religious theory suggests that the name was used to describe the part of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that had been populated mostly by Slavs who had been Christianised early, as opposed to Black Ruthenia, which was predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts. Another theory suggests that the name refers to the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population. A third theory suggests that the old Rus' lands that were not conquered by the Tatars (Polotsk, Vitebsk and Mogilev) were referred to as White Rus'. A fourth theory suggests that the colour white was associated with the west, and Belarus was the western part of Rus' in the 9th to 13th centuries.

The name Rus' is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia, and so Belarus is often referred to as White Russia or White Ruthenia. The name first appeared in German and Latin medieval literature, with the first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus coming in the late 16th century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey. The Russian Tsars used the phrase White Rus' when referring to the land they annexed from Lithuania during the 17th century.

The term Belorussia (or Byelorussia) first rose in the days of the Russian Empire, which was formed by three parts of Russia—the Great, Little, and White. This asserted that the territories and peoples of Belarus were variants of the Russian people. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the term White Russia caused some confusion, as it was also the name of the military force that opposed the Red Bolsheviks. During the period of the Byelorussian SSR, the term Byelorussia was embraced as part of a national consciousness. The term was used officially until 1991, when the newly independent nation became known as Belarus.

Belarus's independence

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It was previously known as Belorussia or White Russia. Belarus gained independence from the Soviet Union on 25 August 1991, following the dissolution of the USSR.

The road to independence was a long one. Between the medieval period and the 20th century, different states controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus at various times. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in 1917, different states arose competing for legitimacy amid the Civil War, ultimately resulting in the rise of the Byelorussian SSR, which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922.

During the Polish-Soviet War (1918-1921), Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland. The country's modern borders were largely shaped in 1939 when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into Belarus after the Soviet invasion of Poland. These borders were finalised after World War II.

During World War II, Belarus was devastated by military operations, losing about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources. The Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations and the Soviet Union in 1945.

The parliament of the Byelorussian SSR proclaimed the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990. Following the adoption of a new constitution in 1994, Alexander Lukashenko was elected as the country's first president in its first and only free election after independence. Lukashenko has been the president of Belarus since 1994 and heads a highly centralised authoritarian government.

Belarus has continued several Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. It is the only European country that continues to use capital punishment. Belarus has no aspirations to join the European Union but maintains a bilateral relationship with the bloc.

The country's independence and sovereignty have been challenged in recent years, with mass protests erupting across the country following the disputed 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko sought a sixth term in office. Neighbouring countries Poland and Lithuania do not recognise Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus.

Belarus's geography and natural resources

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus is slightly smaller than the US state of Kansas, spanning an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) with a population of 9.1 million. The country has a hemiboreal climate and is divided into six administrative regions. Minsk, the largest city in the country, is also the capital and is administered separately as a city with special status.

Belarus is a relatively flat country, with an average elevation of 162 meters (531 ft) above sea level. The country's level terrain is interrupted by the Belarusian Ridge, a collection of individual highlands that runs diagonally from west-southwest to east-northeast. The highest point in Belarus is Mount Dzyarzhynskaya, at 346 meters (1,135 ft) above sea level. Northern Belarus has a hilly landscape with many lakes and gently sloping ridges formed by glacial debris. The south of the country, around the Pripiac River, is a low-lying swampy plain known as Palyessye, shared with Ukraine, Poland, and Russia.

Belarus is home to over 3,0000 streams and 4,000 lakes, which are used for floating timber, shipping, and power generation. Major rivers include the Western Dvina and Nyoman rivers, which flow west, and the Dnieper River and its tributaries, which flow south. The country's landscape also features vast tracts of forests, or pushchas, which cover nearly one-third of the country. The Białowieża Forest, shared with Poland in the far west, is the oldest and most magnificent of these forests and is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In terms of natural resources, Belarus is poorly endowed with mineral resources. However, the country does possess valuable deposits of peat, potash (potassium salts), salt, phosphorite ore, granite, dolomite, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay, and small quantities of oil and natural gas. Belarus also has iron deposits, although these are not currently being utilised.

The country has a cool continental climate with mild to cold winters and cool, moist summers. The average temperature in January ranges from −4 °C (24.8 °F) in the southwest to −8 °C (17.6 °F) in the northeast. Summers have an average temperature of around 18 °C (64.4 °F), with higher humidity levels. Belarus experiences moderate rainfall, ranging from 550 to 700 mm annually, with the highest precipitation occurring from June to August.

Belarus's political system

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It has a presidential system of government, with a president who is the head of state and a prime minister who is the head of government. The country has a bicameral parliament, the National Assembly, which consists of the Council of the Republic and the House of Representatives.

The constitution of Belarus, which was first adopted in 1994 and has been amended several times since then, provides for the fundamental structure of the Belarusian state. It establishes the country as a unitary democratic welfare and rule-of-law state, with the human being, their rights and freedoms as the highest importance and the supreme goal of society and the state. The constitution also guarantees the diversity of political institutions, ideologies and views, and establishes the principle of the rule of law.

The president of Belarus is the head of state and has significant powers, including the right to initiate legislation, appoint the prime minister, and determine the structure of the government. The president is also responsible for representing the unity of the people, guaranteeing the implementation of domestic and foreign policies, and protecting the sovereignty, national security and territorial integrity of the country. The current president, Alexander Lukashenko, has been in office since 1994 and has been characterised as authoritarian, with Belarus described as "Europe's last dictatorship".

The National Assembly has legislative power and is made up of the Council of the Republic and the House of Representatives. The Council of the Republic has the power to select various government officials, conduct impeachment trials, and accept or reject bills passed by the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives has the power to appoint the prime minister, make constitutional amendments, and call for a vote of confidence on the prime minister.

The judiciary in Belarus comprises the Supreme Court, the Supreme Economic Court, and the Constitutional Court, which has the final ruling on the republic's basic law. The Constitutional Court is made up of 12 judges, half of whom are appointed by the president and half elected by the Council of the Republic, and they serve 11-year terms.

Suffrage in Belarus is universal from the age of 18, and there are more than a dozen registered political parties. However, political success has often depended more on loyalty to the president than on party affiliation, and opposition parties have had little electoral success. The Communist Party of Belarus, a successor to the Communist Party of the Soviet era, is one of the parties supportive of Lukashenko, while opposition parties include the Party of Communists of Belarus and the Party of the Belarusian Popular Front.

Belarus's economy

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, has an upper-middle-income, mixed economy. As a post-Soviet transition economy, Belarus rejected most privatisation efforts in favour of retaining centralised political and economic controls by the state. The highly centralised Belarusian economy emphasises full employment and a dominant public sector. It has been described as a welfare state or market socialist.

Before the October Revolution, Belarus was a relatively backward and underdeveloped country, heavily reliant on agriculture. However, after the construction of railways in the late 19th century, Belarus experienced rapid economic and industrial growth, with cities like Minsk, Vitsebsk, Hrodna, Pinsk and Homel becoming significant industrial centres.

During the Soviet era, Belarus became an important trade hub between the Soviet Union and Europe. Manufacturing became a pillar of its economy, with an emphasis on tractors, heavy trucks, oil processing, metal-cutting lathes, synthetic fibres, TV sets, semiconductors and microchips. Belarus had an unusually high export rate of its products (around 80%) and was the most technologically advanced of the Soviet republics.

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Belarus has maintained government control over key industries and avoided the large-scale privatisations seen in other former Soviet republics. Belarus has a highly regulated labour market, with important elements of the central-planning system still in place.

The country's main agricultural products include potatoes, flax, hemp, sugar beets, rye, oats, and wheat, and it raises dairy and beef cattle, pigs, and chickens. Belarus has only small reserves of petroleum and natural gas and imports most of its oil and gas from Russia. The main branches of industry produce tractors and trucks, earth movers, metal-cutting machine tools, agricultural equipment, motorcycles, chemicals, fertiliser, textiles, and consumer goods.

The greatest changes in agriculture in the first half of the 1990s were a decline in the amount of land under cultivation and a significant shift from livestock to crop production because crops had become much more profitable. The food processing industry in the country is led primarily by state concern Belgospischeprom and local municipal or regionally owned production facilities.

The Belarusian chemical industry specialises in extracting value from the Russian oil products that transit through the country's pipelines to Germany and the west. Synthetic polymers like nylon, viscose, acrylic, polyester and polyethylene are produced from this stream, as well as household chemical products.

The Belarusian economy suffered a severe crisis in 2011, attributed to the government's centralised control of the economy. Inflation reached 108.7%, and the average salary decreased from $530 in December 2010 to $330 in May 2011. The crisis was also caused by a strong governmental control of the economy, a discount rate lower than inflation, and the budget deficit.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a limited impact on the Belarusian economy due to the absence of mobility restrictions and credit support to state-owned enterprises. However, the political unrest and increased state repression that accompanied the pandemic negatively impacted the economy.

In 2022, the EU imposed trade sanctions on Belarus as a result of its facilitation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions are in addition to those imposed following the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, which was widely criticised by Western observers.

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