Belarus and the West: From Estrangement to Honeymoon

Abstract

From 1996 to 2007, the avowed goal of policies towards Belarus pursued by both the EU and the USA was to promote democracy in that country. In 2007, the EU switched from ostracizing the country's political regime to engaging with it and was accused of a double standard by the Belarusian opposition. The change in question reflects an altered appraisal of the political landscape. Whereas previously the leader of Belarus was seen as a nuisance who could be cast aside were the opposition generously funded, from 2007 to 2010 he was viewed as a tested leader and a potential ally, and Belarusian ‘democrats’ were no longer taken seriously. Thus, change in the EU's Belarusian policy pertained to the means and not the goal, which continued to be the geopolitical reorientation of Belarus. Consequently, the relationship between geopolitics and democracy-promotion closely matches that between the foreign policy's rationale and its public relations apparatus.