Political and Legal Determinants of Economic Cooperation between Belarus and Poland

The legal and political sphere consists of legislative regulations, resulting from the policy of the state in which the businesses operate. The aim of the study is to verify the research hypothesis according to which political and legal factors significantly determine the mutual economic cooperation between Belarus and Poland in the period 2016 - 2020/21. The article places particular emphasis on the analysis of political and legal factors on the side of Belarus, due to the current political and legal crises. Against this background, the analogous political and legal set-ups in Poland are also presented. The analysis took into account, in particular: political stability, democratic nature of the state policy, level of corruption of public authorities, membership in international organizations, stability of legislative structure, the independence and efficiency of the judiciary. The results of the conducted research indicate that the nature of Belarusian-Polish relations is significantly influenced by the political situation in Belarus and the authoritarian way of appeasing power by the president of this country. Without fundamental changes in the internal situation in Belarus, it is difficult to expect spectacular breakthroughs and changes in Belarus' relations with Poland.