The Republic of Belarus (1990–1996): transformation of a parliamentary republic into an authoritary state

Abstract

The mass protests of Belarusians against the fraud of the presidential elections (August 2020) have drawn the attention of researchers to the nature of the post-Soviet authoritarian regimes and raised once again the question of the reasons for coming to power the dictatorship in Belarus (July 1994). The paper analyses the driving forces of democratic reforms in Belarus in the first half of the 1990s, their achievements and miscalculations. In addition, the article attempts to identify social groups that supported the call “back to the USSR”.