Zmiany regulacji prawnych dotyczących organizacji pozarządowych na Białorusi w okresie rządów autorytarnych (od 1996 do 2000 roku)
Changes in the legal framework for NGOs in Belarus in the period of authoritarian rule (from 1996 to 2000)

Summary/Abstract: The article is a study of state policy in the field of legal regulations concerning the establishment and operation of non-governmental organizations in Belarus. The authors analyzed the importance of civil society structures as one of the factors determining democratization, and as a counterweight to the interference on the part of the authoritarian government with the operations of NGOs. The article compares the Belarusian state policy towards non-profit organizations during the formation and stabilization period of the presidential authoritarian power to the situation during the times of the consolidation of the authoritarian regime. The extent to which the state policy has determined the development of NGOs in Belarus has been pointed out. The authors conclude that: 1) the Belarusian policy in this area of social life does not meet the international standards that are in force in a number of democratic countries, 2) the state policy on public benefit organizations is conditioned by the election calendar and the schedule of other political actions in the country, and it is moving towards the marginalization of the influence of social organizations on the shape of social life in the country, 3) moreover, this policy is not stable, but rather periodic in character, 4) the form of the public policy used in this field has caused an internal division between organizations operating in the country in terms of loyalty to the government (NGO politicization and de-politicization ), led to the banning of a number of NGOs and reducing their influence on the country’s social life and resulted in shaping new forms of social activity and the consolidation of opposition forces in Belarus (NGOs and political opposition joined forces), 4) the state government of Belarus, in the conditions of the consolidation of the authoritarian regime, is creating state-dependent, pseudo-NGOs as a substitute for the elements of civil society.

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