№7, 2006

The article is focused on analysis of territorial peculiarities of electoral behaviour in Belarus. The analysis is made on the basis of official voting results during presidential elections of 1994, 2001 and 2006. The author makes a conclusion that in spite of absence of full trust to official data (especially in 2001 and 2006), the analysis of this data allows to retrace territorial peculiarities of voting and to localize relatively «oppositional» and «anti-oppositional» areas that reflect essential regional differences, which are being preserved by the authoritarian regime.

The article contains a description and an analysis of main researches on practice of presidential elections of 1994 and 2001 in Belarus. The author also studies logic of researches, context and institutional frameworks of their existence.

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of spontaneous groups which arose during protests caused by the presidential elections of 2006. The author tries to define the notion of spontaneous groups, classify them according to origin and internal structure, and outline perspectives of their future.

The article is focused on the role and significance of new media during the presidential elections of 2006. The author also studies theoretical bases of tactical media and perspectives of their future participation in political struggle.

Images on banknotes are one of the ways of visualization and distribution of knowledge about a definite historical period and fixing it in consciousness of people with the aim to influence national identity. The author analyses images on banknotes of Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus and studies common features and differences in their design.

The article is devoted to the presidential elections of 2006 in Belarus in the context of advertisement production. The author analyses main images of the political campaign of 2006, their usage by the authorities and opposition, and stylistic parameters of publicity messages.

During recent years in Belarus there has been a tendency of civil society structures incorporation into the state sector. In conditions of institutional corporative relations between civil and state sectors, a hybrid state non-governmental sector is being created.

The article is focused on the analysis of the state of political researches in Russia. The author studies main peculiarities of this institute, offers a typology and brief description of some empirical research centers, and notes both weaknesses and improvements in the field.

The article is focused on a review of a book by D. Bezniuk and also analyses theoretical and methodological problems arising during the study of state-confessional relations. It is aimed at a critical view not only of one work, but of a broader tradition of similar thematic research in Belarus.

The article studies the nation building process in Western Belarus in 1923—1939 through the field of neo-union action. The author analyses whether this action influenced Belarusian national identity and how different actors related to the Belarusian question.

The article is devoted to political events in Ukraine in 2006 and elections to the Supreme Rada. The author analyses the situation before the elections, the logic of its development and problems of stable political coalition formation in the post-election period.

The article is focused on practices of elections to self-governance bodies in Western Belarus in 1921—1939, especially at the level of hmina and city self-governance. The author analyses political practice of Polish authorities and the influence of ideological, national and religious factors on local politics.

This review of a handbook on political parties in Russia and Belarus is devoted to issues of party history in Belarus and the Russian Empire, the mono-party Soviet system, and contemporary party systems. The text notes shortcomings such as eclecticism, methodological vagueness and ideological bias.

The review is devoted to the relevance of Slovak democratic transformation experience for Belarus and to articles on genealogy of Slovak identity, history of Slovakia and the country’s democratic transition in 1998.