The Belarusian-German relations: key factors of influence
Abstract
The article considers political, economic and ideological factors of influence on the Belarusian-German relations. The author identifies such events of the late 20th – early 21st centuries as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of independent states in the post-Soviet space, the unification of Germany, the formation and expansion of the EU as political factors. Special emphasis is placed on the differences between the Belarusian-German relations before and after 1994 and the importance of the internal political situation in Belarus in this regard. The author contrasts the position of Germany on this issue in the first years of independence and after the election of President Alexander Lukashenko, when the issues of human rights and democracy were put forward by Germany as a condition for expanding political cooperation between our countries. Much attention is paid to the argumentation of the thesis on the dependence of the foreign policy of Germany, including bilateral relations with Belarus, on the consolidated policy of the European Union. It is emphasized that despite the demonstration of independence in determining the nature of the Belarusian-German relations, Germany often supported the anti-Belarusian EU resolutions under far-fetched pretexts. At the same time, economic ties between Belarus and Germany are singled out as a positive factor. A number of statistical data confirming the overall positive dynamics of their development are given. However, a more comprehensive comparative analysis of exports and imports shows periodic declines in economic cooperation. One of the reasons the author calls the aggravation of the political and economic situation in Germany. In this regard, he notes the presence of ideological factors of influence, in particular, the growth in the Federal Republic of Germany of extreme right wing and rightleftsentiments, populism in party programs and the decline in the popularity of leading parties.
References
- Rusakovich AV. Germaniya vo vneshnei politike Belarusi (1990–2012 gg.) [Germany in the foreign policy of Belarus (1990–2012)]. Minsk: Republican Institute for Locational Education; 2015. 424 p. Russian.
- Rusakovich AV. Belarus – Germany: main trends and stages of the development of intergovernmental relations in the 1990s – first half of the 2010s. Journal of the Belarusian State University. International Relations. 2018;1:10–17.
- Froltsov VV. The Eastern and Southeastern European countries in the pre-election programs of the key German parties 2017. Journal of the Belarusian State University. International Relations. 2017;2:24–30.
- Froltsov VV. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus in the program documents of the three governments of Angela Merkel (2005–2017). Journal of the Belarusian State University. International Relations. 2018;1:3–9.
- Froltsov VV. Foreign policy goals and objectives of the A. Merkel’s fourth government. Journal of International Law and International Relations. 2017;3–4(82–83):10–18. Russian.
- Froltsov VV. Postsovetskie gosudarstva vo vneshnei politike FRG (1991–2005) [The post-Soviet states in the foreign policy of Germany (1991–2005)]. Minsk: Belarusian State University; 2013. 431 p. Russian.
- Bohn TM, Shadurski VG, Weber A. Ein weißer Fleck in Europa… Die Imagination der Belarus als Kontaktzone zwischen Ost und West. Bielefeld: Transcript; 2011. German.
- Bohn TM, Einax R, Mühlbauer J, editors. Bunte Flecken in Weißrussland: Erinnerungsorte zwischen polnisch-litauischer Union und russisch-sowjetischem Imperium. Historische Belarus-studien. Band 1. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; 2013. German.
- Sheludkova I. Davos: Merkel has called for reforms [Internet]. 2019 January 23 [cited 2019 March 1]. Available from: https://ru.euronews.com/2019/01/23/merkel-at-davos-urged-western-powers-to-think-beyond-their-narrow-national-interests. Russian.
- New Year’s address of President Alexander Lukashenko to the Belarusian people [Internet]. 2018 January 1 [cited 2019 March 1]. Available from: https://www.sb.by/articles/novogodnee-obrashchenie-prezidenta-k-belorusskomu-narodu.html/. Russian.
- The Republic of Belarus – Germany. Bilateral relations [Internet; cited 2019 March 1]. Available from: http://germany.mfa.gov.by/ru/bilateral_relations/. Russian.
- Bykovsky P. Steinmeier in Belarus called for the formation of a common memory culture [Internet]. 2018 June 29 [cited 2019 March 1]. Available from: https://www.dw.com/ru/штайнмайер-в-беларуси-призвал-к-формированию-общей-культуры-памяти/a-44466013. Russian.
- Kostyukevich N. The representative of the German authorities apologized officially to Belarusians for the horrors of the World War II for the first time [Internet]. 2015 May 4 [cited 2019 March 1]. Available from: https://news.tut.by/society/446516.html. Russian.
- German Foreign Minister said that Berlin is ready to support a rapprochement between Belarus and the EU [Internet]. 2017 November 17 [cited 2019 March 1]. Available from: https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/4737358. Russian.
- On the first annual consultations on the implementation of EU projects and programs in Belarus [Internet]. 2019 March 14 [cited 2019 March 1]. Available from: http://mfa.gov.by/press/news_mfa/a481dcd435af950e.html. Russian.
- On the 16th meeting of the Belarusian-German working group on trade and investment [Internet]. 2018 December 19. [cited 2019 March 1]. Available from: http://mfa.gov.by/press/news_mfa/c006660df8c84c26.html. Russian.
Copyright (c) 2019 Journal of the Belarusian State University. International Relations
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:
- The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
- The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
- The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)