Lukashenko's Foreign Policy (1994-2008)

On August 25, 1991, Belarus formally declared independence from the Soviet Union, which marked its independent capacity to enter the international arena. As one of the most important players in European geopolitics and the frontier where Commonwealth of Independent States associates with the western world, Belarus and its foreign policy have been considerably underscored. In the first few years of the independence, Belarus Government preliminarily established serveral principal tasks and priorities for foreign policy to obtain extensive recognitions from international community and accomplish the goal of being independent, sovereign, Neutral and denuclearized.The foreign policy of Lukashenko administration occupyies a pivotal position in Belarus contemparary foreign policy in terms of execution time, running performance, impacts and develepment trend. Through a 14-year-long president's term, foreign policy of Lukashenko administration has formed a set of stable principals, tasks, objectives and priority directions. With the establishment of Super President System, Lukashenko administration was able to integrate the foreign policy with decision-making and strategy more efficiently than ever before. The bifaceted, tendentious and authoritative foreign policy hinged on the environment of international relations, national strength, domestic political factions, and above all, personal factors of Alexander Lukashenko. On one side, Lukashenko's foreign policy played a vital part in realizing independence and sovereignty of the nation, social stability and rapid development of the economy, which also meant a lot to fulfilling his self-achivements. On the other side, Lukashenko's personal limitations and restrictions of external factors also left a series of tough issues and challenges in Belarus's diplomatic relations that his successors and himself must face. As this paper argues, Lukashenko's foreign policy is pragmatic and trenchancy, but not flexible nor even. Judging from the perspectives of Belarus'national interest and specific historical period of post-cold war, Lukashenko's foreign policy should be approved and will not be adjusted significantly in decades to come.