Discussion “Belarusian Political Science: Challenges of the Political Crisis and War” (14.09)

14 September 2022, 16:00, ZOOM.

Moderator: Aliaksei Lastouski.

Participants: Andrei Kazakevich, Pavel Usau, Yury Chavusau, Tatsiana Chulitskaya.

The discussion is held as part of the preparation for the jubilee 10th International Congress of Belarusian Studies and is included in a series of discussions on the state of social sciences and humanities under the conditions of the political crisis in Belarus in 2020 and the war in Ukraine.

In recent years, Belarus and Central-Eastern Europe have experienced revolutionary changes that have significantly increased interest in the study of Belarus and, at the same time, created new challenges.

Large-scale political protests, repression, the destruction of civic and political institutions, sanctions against Belarus, Russia’s war in Ukraine – the pace of change is staggering and requires reflection and a new level of responsibility.

This has also led to profound changes in the study of the political sphere in Belarus.

Changes have occurred not only in research topics, but also in the organisation of the research community.

The discussion proposes to address the following issues:
– How have the events of recent years affected the problems and topics of research on the Belarusian political system.

What changes have taken place in the expert and academic community?
– Even before autumn 2020, cooperation among different segments of the expert community and communication between researchers with very different political views was possible.

What is happening now, is impartiality still possible, or have experts and researchers irreversibly split into warring camps?

And in general, is communication and exchange of ideas possible, and if so, in what format?
– In connection with the growing interest in Belarus, have new people and studies appeared that would rethink Belarus in a new way on international platforms?

Do Belarusian scholars still remain confined within national frameworks?

Have there been any conceptual changes in methods and approaches?
– Could it be that Russian aggression in Ukraine will lead to the complete “erasure” of Belarusian issues?

How much demand is there now for research on Belarusian politics?

To join the discussion, please register using the following form (https://forms.gle/uUs2gWHoy2JbBGnr5).