The article is focused on the distinctive features of Belarusian collective identity. In particular, it explores such questions as: to what extent Belarusians perceive themselves as members of the pan-Russian (Orthodox East Slavic) community shared with Russians and Ukrainians, how this type of their collective identity is related to their national self-identification, and the degree of consolidation of the latter. Focusing on the period of Belarusian independence, the text draws on sociological research conducted in the last twenty two years and sets the findings against the background of a more distant historical past. The article also presents various types of Western- and Russian-oriented collective identities, with their ambiguous attitudes resulting from such factors as age, educational background and geographical patterns.
The main aim of the paper is to confirm a thesis that Russian Orthodox Church supports the theory about an all-Russian nation which includes Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian people. The all-Russian nation is a kind of civilizations nation with its East-Slavonic basis, part of so called Russian world. It is a spiritual and religious community. The theory of the all-Russian nation promotes geopolitical and geocultural Russian influence in the post-Soviet area, especially in Belarus and Ukraine. The official position of Russian Orthodox Church is that Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians are a unique nation divided into three independent states but they constitute a single spiritual and religious community.
The article addresses the need for a new methodology in Poland’s foreign policy. The need is driven by major changes which have taken place in Poland’s eastern neighbours. It seems that the ULB (Ukraine–Lithuania–Belarus) doctrine, born in the circles of the Parisian “Kultura” and regarded to be the foundations of Poland’s eastern policy is too alienated from the realities of the eastern part of Europe. Thus, it is important for Poland to take into account every new circumstance and to base its actions on concepts which are much better suited to the requirements of the contemporary world.
The collapse of the USSR resulted in the disintegration of a uniform national defensive system. Taking into account the scope of military cooperation of the states of Slavic Europe, it should be emphasized that each of them tries to realize their own national interests, which is reflected in the nature of the military co-operation. Russia’s bilateral co-operation with Ukraine and Belarus is dominant. The co-operation between Ukraine and Belarus has also been developing gradually. Russia is a supporter of a broad and intense co-operation in the military sphere, from military-technical sphere, the cooperation of arms industries to maintaining military presence and building a common space of security. Ukraine prefers the co-operation of the companies of military-industrial complexes, but also maintaining independence from Russia. Belarus, on the other hand, puts emphasis on the co-operation of arms industry with Russia and the supply of military technology.
The article present the contemporary discourses of national identity of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine in the scope of their common eastern Slavic origin. Following the identity discourses in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, the author of this article develops a thesis that the shared Eastern Slavic identity is one of the most powerful historical, political and social myths in Eastern Europe, which is grounded in the historical and political experience shared by these three modern states. This myth plays an important integrative role in politics.
Nostalgia can be described as an emotional state, a deeply melancholic longing for the past regarding individual and collective imagination. Nostalgia never maps the past; rather, it is a narrative that describes people’s feelings. It is to say that nostalgia tells more about the present than the past because it describes actual needs and desires. People tend to idealize those aspects of the earlier life which are the weak points now. What makes nostalgia a natural phenomenon occurring among all civilizations is that bittersweet longing for the past where a person keeps remembering the old days. This paper attempts to examine the issue of nostalgia for the Soviet Union, especially in the psychological context. It tries to answer why the people who have lived in totalitarian and felonious system are inclined to miss it.
The article presents the issue of Russian national identity as portrayed in the literary works by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It analyses the books Solzhenitsyn wrote after his return to Russia in 1994 against the background of his journalistic comments published in different periods of his life. The research method adopted allows the author to observe a certain evolution in Solzhenitsyn’s approach towards the issue of “Russianness” and to disclose his roots grounded in traditional Russian thought, as the solutions he offers to social issues in Russia resound with old ideas, such as the concepts formulated by the 19th-Century Slavophilia movement, but also some rudiments of socialist ideology.
This article briefly presents the main principles of the Russian Federation’s concept of migration policy and shows the impact of its implementation on political stability and security of Russia. Its main aim is to introduce the fundamental conditions and assumptions of control strategies against rapidly growing migration flows and present the major threats that could render implementation of the Kremlin’s plans impossible.
The focus of the present paper is on Ukraine’s security policy after 2010, the year when Viktor Janukovych was elected the country’s President. In terms of international security, Ukraine is placed in a “security vacuum,” as it does not belong to any organization responsible for the security of the European or the Eurasian area. The policy of the Ukrainian government, as far as security (defense) is concerned, is a reactive one, i,e, it responds to current threats and challenges, both immediate and more distant. On the other hand, the concepts and strategies referring to Ukraine’s security policy are declarative in character or serve tactical, electoral or other purposes, yet do not reflect the actual concern and thought given by the Ukrainian policymakers to the state’s security. The factors affecting the security situation in Ukraine are external (the policies of NATO, the EU and the Russian Federation) and internal (the influence of oligarchic groups on the shape of the country’s political system, its foreign and security policies). One must give due consideration to all of these factors when analyzing Ukraine’s security policy.
This article is an attempt to present the most important issues concerning the identity discourse within Belarusian cultural and literary arena. The author of the article is particularly interested in Belarusian dramaturgic texts, which undoubtedly played an important role in the forming of the cultural peculiarity of the Belarusian nation and, simultaneously, which account for an important voice in the discussion on Belarusians’ national autonomy. So varied in its forms and language material, Belarusian dramaturgy realizes very many different themes and tackles a wide range of problems. This makes it helpful not only in the search for answers to the question of the roots of the Belarusian nation, but it also allows us to observe numerous conditionings (not only cultural, but political and religious as well) of the formation process of Belarusians’ identity.
