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Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship
This book is the first in English to explore both Belarus’s complicated road to nationhood and to examine in detail its politics and economics since 1991, the nation’s first year of true independence. Andrew Wilson focuses particular attention on Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s surprising longevity as president, despite human rights abuses and involvement in yet another rigged election in December 2010.
Wilson looks at Belarusian history as a series of false starts in the medieval and pre-modern periods, and at the many rival versions of Belarusian identity, culminating with the Soviet Belarusian project and the establishment of Belarus’s current borders during World War II. He also addresses Belarus’s on-off relationship with Russia, its simultaneous attempts to play a game of balance in the no-man’s-land between Russia and the West, and how, paradoxically, Belarus is at last becoming a true nation under the rule of Europe’s “last dictator.”
Wilson looks at Belarusian history as a series of false starts in the medieval and pre-modern periods, and at the many rival versions of Belarusian identity, culminating with the Soviet Belarusian project and the establishment of Belarus’s current borders during World War II. He also addresses Belarus’s on-off relationship with Russia, its simultaneous attempts to play a game of balance in the no-man’s-land between Russia and the West, and how, paradoxically, Belarus is at last becoming a true nation under the rule of Europe’s “last dictator.”
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
35 people are currently reading
404 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Wilson
12 books17 followersAndrew Wilson is reader in Ukrainian studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College, London.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 16, 2013
This is a very uneven book. The middle part, spanning the 17th-early 20th centuries (maybe up to WW2), is really great. The earlier history though is completely informed by Lukashenka's weird turn to creating Belarussian history from the nothingness that it actually was. This means Wilson presents every available imagined nationalism extending back into the Dark Ages (sorcerer werewolf kings, though!) and throws them at the reader, which makes this section very confusing. Same thing with the last third of the text (physically most of the book) which covers the period from 1989 up until 2011. Lukashenka is batshit insane, yes, we get it, but the level of detail on election manipulation, political shenanigans, and whatnot could have been streamlined for readability's sake. I found myself nodding off into my kvass every time I opened this thing.
March 21, 2024
Wilson is such a strange author because he's so boring. Like, if you want an in-depth introduction into a subject he's great, but he clearly has specific interests and will talk at you AT LENGTHS about them. In his book on Ukraine, it was religion, here it's elections. Like, I get it, Lukaschenko rigged everything in basically the same way five times, I don't need half of every chapter to be about exactly how he did it. Please tell me about other things that were happening from 1990-2020, I'm sure other stuff was going on.
But good introduction, just be prepared to skim over whatever sections don't interest you.
But good introduction, just be prepared to skim over whatever sections don't interest you.
November 28, 2021
Overall this is probably the best book available on Belarus written in the English language.
The first third of the book charters the history and events that are in Wilson's opinion responsible for shaping the character of the modern Belarusian nation, before moving onto the country's history within the Soviet Union. However, I feel that Wilson fails to properly tie in this historical background into the post-Soviet history of the country which makes the book feel somewhat disjointed.
Wilson provides a very detailed account of post-Soviet Belarus and Lukashenko's rule from 1994 onwards. It should be noted that there may be a bit too much detail for a casual reader, though those with an interest in the region will find the detail useful and enlightening. But it should be warned that this is no light introduction.
The book is worth reading for those with a particular interest in Belarus or for those who are have a broader interest in the history/politics of the broader post-Soviet space, and provides good context for ongoing events happening in Belarus.
The first third of the book charters the history and events that are in Wilson's opinion responsible for shaping the character of the modern Belarusian nation, before moving onto the country's history within the Soviet Union. However, I feel that Wilson fails to properly tie in this historical background into the post-Soviet history of the country which makes the book feel somewhat disjointed.
Wilson provides a very detailed account of post-Soviet Belarus and Lukashenko's rule from 1994 onwards. It should be noted that there may be a bit too much detail for a casual reader, though those with an interest in the region will find the detail useful and enlightening. But it should be warned that this is no light introduction.
The book is worth reading for those with a particular interest in Belarus or for those who are have a broader interest in the history/politics of the broader post-Soviet space, and provides good context for ongoing events happening in Belarus.
June 10, 2022
Incredibly detailed book regarding the development of Belarus's national identity and it's time under Lukashenko. It lacks a detailed account of Post War Soviet Belarus prior to Gorbachev.
October 31, 2020
Sure, the title is catchy, but I would argue that Belarus wasn't the last European dictatorship neither at the time this book was written, nor now when it seems more countries are eager to join this exclusive club.
A large chunk of the book is dedicated to the early history of Belarus and sometimes it feels a bit boring. I like how the rise and reign of the current regime are handled and this really helps paint a clearer picture of the complicated situation in Belarus and of the relationships the country has with the EU and Russia.
Seeing the events that have recently unfolded in the country makes me look forward to a book written by this author, covering the last decade and the decade that has just started.
A large chunk of the book is dedicated to the early history of Belarus and sometimes it feels a bit boring. I like how the rise and reign of the current regime are handled and this really helps paint a clearer picture of the complicated situation in Belarus and of the relationships the country has with the EU and Russia.
Seeing the events that have recently unfolded in the country makes me look forward to a book written by this author, covering the last decade and the decade that has just started.
January 4, 2025
Despite my rating, it is not a perfect book - but it is just about the best longue duree read about Belarusian history and politics there is...if not the only one.
The two parts of the book are rather disjointed, but it succeeds in giving an insight into key questions regarding Belarusian identity, it's relationship with Russia, Lukashenka's rule, and Belarusian statehood.
A recommended reading for anyone interested in what is sometimes viewed as a bit of a black hole in the European map.
The two parts of the book are rather disjointed, but it succeeds in giving an insight into key questions regarding Belarusian identity, it's relationship with Russia, Lukashenka's rule, and Belarusian statehood.
A recommended reading for anyone interested in what is sometimes viewed as a bit of a black hole in the European map.
September 14, 2025
This book was informative, although not particularly engaging. The writing was decent, the data good, but I did it as an audiobook and the narrator was TERRIBLE. He mispronounced almost everything which made it offputting to follow it. I got a paper copy so I could see what those words actually looked like. If you are not going to get a narrator who knows the language, it is useless to make an audiobook. With that said, I am not sure if the author got to approve this but it was read so badly that I couldn't truly enjoy any parts of it and the author should know that.
October 28, 2024
Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship ** Read in Minsk, Belarus (and donated to a local friend to read who isn't able to buy this book in the country -- September 2024)
May 14, 2019
Overall, I found this book very informative about a country I knew little of. Belarus has a rather unique history but found it challenging to build a nation out of a region with very little ‘nationalism‘. The areas that is now Belarus was historically squeezed between three larger countries (Russia, Poland and Lithuania) and three main religions (Catholic, Orthodox, and Uniate). It suffered horribly during World War II and it’s people have been under the ruthless thumb of Aliaksandr Lukashenka for the past 25 years. Russia is pressuring it today to rejoin it - it remains to be seen if Belarus will maintain it sovereignty in the future.
July 2, 2025
This book is a strange mixture of being out of date, having too much detail, and not enough context, if I’m honest.
This book was published 14 years ago, and mostly writes about Belarus up to 2011. It made for a decent story about Belarus up to that point. The problem is that that’s a long time ago, and a lot has happened in the interim (the war in Ukraine, and the Belarusian position on that conflict, for example, which isn’t covered here) isn’t covered. The author has added chapters to cover the subsequent period, but they felt like they’d been tacked on, and don’t flow seamlessly from the previous chapter (and they still don’t mention the war on its doorstep), so I feel it could have done with a rewrite to make it more… consistently fluent?
The book does have a lot of Belarusian history in it, but I was left feeling that it almost wasn’t really a country for long periods. The size kept changing, and it was part of unions with Lithuania and Poland, and then Russia, but didn’t really develop its own identity. This wasn’t helped by the fact that a strand of the independence movement didn’t really know what it was doing, and even the current President keeps trying to redefine their identity in schools.
I think we learned a lot about the post-USSR too. President Lukashenka (in Belorusian) was almost craven in his lust for power, but was pretty popular, and would have likely won the Presidential Elections prior to the 2020 election, but couldn’t help himself massively inflated majorities. He also managed to make the country less obviously financially corrupt than Russia or Ukraine, with a comparatively small gap between the rich and poor. Russia kept trying to asset-strip Belarus, and was irritated that Lukashenka wouldn’t let them. This doesn’t mean President Lukashenka was all “nice and fuzzy”. He did what he needed to do to keep an authoritarian grip on the country. At one stage the author said Lukashenka saw himself as “father of the nation”, and acted like that in that regard, which I thought was interesting.
My other grumble with the book is that the author focused a lot on what was going on, and could, on occasion have stepped back was given us more of an overview.
So, in short, it’s not bad, just not what it could have been?
This book was published 14 years ago, and mostly writes about Belarus up to 2011. It made for a decent story about Belarus up to that point. The problem is that that’s a long time ago, and a lot has happened in the interim (the war in Ukraine, and the Belarusian position on that conflict, for example, which isn’t covered here) isn’t covered. The author has added chapters to cover the subsequent period, but they felt like they’d been tacked on, and don’t flow seamlessly from the previous chapter (and they still don’t mention the war on its doorstep), so I feel it could have done with a rewrite to make it more… consistently fluent?
The book does have a lot of Belarusian history in it, but I was left feeling that it almost wasn’t really a country for long periods. The size kept changing, and it was part of unions with Lithuania and Poland, and then Russia, but didn’t really develop its own identity. This wasn’t helped by the fact that a strand of the independence movement didn’t really know what it was doing, and even the current President keeps trying to redefine their identity in schools.
I think we learned a lot about the post-USSR too. President Lukashenka (in Belorusian) was almost craven in his lust for power, but was pretty popular, and would have likely won the Presidential Elections prior to the 2020 election, but couldn’t help himself massively inflated majorities. He also managed to make the country less obviously financially corrupt than Russia or Ukraine, with a comparatively small gap between the rich and poor. Russia kept trying to asset-strip Belarus, and was irritated that Lukashenka wouldn’t let them. This doesn’t mean President Lukashenka was all “nice and fuzzy”. He did what he needed to do to keep an authoritarian grip on the country. At one stage the author said Lukashenka saw himself as “father of the nation”, and acted like that in that regard, which I thought was interesting.
My other grumble with the book is that the author focused a lot on what was going on, and could, on occasion have stepped back was given us more of an overview.
So, in short, it’s not bad, just not what it could have been?
June 7, 2019
A history of Belarus that dates from the earliest settlements to the present day, Wilson's book gives a fairly good overview of a country not often written about. As the concept of a separate Belarusian identity is a rather recent phenomenon, the last third of the book is focused on the twentieth century and beyond, with a fairly large amount on the politics of the dominating president, Alyaksandr Lukashenka (Alexander Lukashenko in Russian). That said it is a good source as it does cover a significant gap in the region, and incorporates Belarusian-language sources (as well as Russian), which is not often found in English-language publications on Belarus. Despite the strong subtitle it is more an academic history than anything, and gives the subject a proper treatment.
August 27, 2023
Very well researched, and the best book available on Belarus in the English language. A bit dry in the middle, and skims post war Belarus until Gorbachev.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews