Culture Wars, Soul-Searching, and Belarusian Identity
Culture Wars, Soul-Searching, and Belarusian Identity
Author(s): Grigory IoffeSubject(s): Political Philosophy, Government/Political systems, Nationalism Studies, Sociology of Politics, Geopolitics, Politics and Identity
Published by: SAGE Publications Ltd
Keywords: Belarus; Belarusian; Lukashenka; culture wars; civilizational fault line;
Summary/Abstract: Attaching political labels to a situation whose roots transcend politics constitutes a critical weakness of Western policies vis-à-vis Belarus. The contemporary nationalist discourse in Belarus allows one to discern three “national projects,” each being a corpus of ideas about Belarus “the way it should be”: (1) Nativist/pro-European, (2) Muscovite liberal, and (3) Creole. While the projects’ nametags are debatable, the trichotomy is a useful abstraction, as it reflects the lines of force in the “magnetic field” of Belarusian nationalism. The article analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each project, cultural wars between them, the role of a civilizational fault line that runs across Belarus and the attendant geopolitical divisions that underlie multiplicity of national projects. The idea is expressed of a desirable consensus based on the most viable aspects of the national projects.
Journal: East European Politics and Societies
- Issue Year: 21/2007
- Issue No: 02
- Page Range: 348-381
- Page Count: 34
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF