In 1965 the Anglo-Belarusian Society began publishing a yearbook - The Journal of Byelorussian Studies. Since 2013, the Journal of Belarusian Studies is published in London by the Ostrogorski Centre in cooperation with the Anglo-Belarusian Society. The 2018 issue of the Journal features articles on the cult of Joseph Stalin's personality in Belarus, the preservation of Pentecostals' faith in Soviet-era Belarus, the processes of Belarus's nation-building, and the history of Belarusian émigrés in interwar Czechoslovakia. The issue also features several book reviews. The Journal is the oldest English language double-blind peer-reviewed periodical on Belarusian studies.

In 2020, mass anti-government protests erupted across Belarus. The brutal crackdown that followed shocked the international community: the authorities arrested tens of thousands of citizens, shut down independent media and NGOs, and fomented a migrant crisis on the European Union’s border. But where many thought Belarus’s dictator, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, would fall, he instead turned to Moscow for support, intensifying repression. Many of his opponents fled the country. Then, in February 2022, Belarus provided a staging area for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, allowing troops and missile systems to be based on its territory as large-scale war returned to Eastern Europe once again. Many outsiders now view Belarus as little more than a Russian military district, rather than a sovereign country. Paul Hansbury offers a wide-ranging account of these two related crises. Exploring the domestic origins of Belarus’s political chaos and its international ramifications, he also assesses the effectiveness of western sanctions policy, as well as considering the history and prospects of Belarusian statehood. Does Belarus have a future as an independent polity? And how has Russia’s war with Ukraine affected Belarusians’ views of their dictatorship and the cause of democracy in their country?

In 1965 the Anglo-Belarusian Society began publishing a yearbook - The Journal of Byelorussian Studies. Since 2013, the Journal of Belarusian Studies is published in London by the Ostrogorski Centre in cooperation with the Anglo-Belarusian Society. The Journal is distributed annually to universities, libraries and private subscribers in the UK, the US, Belarus and other countries throughout the world. The 2017 issue of the Journal features articles on the Belarusian nation-building in the context of the First World War and the activities of Belarusian diaspora in the United States in the Cold War era. A particular attention is paid to the lifepath of Francis Skaryna, one of the fi rst East European book printers, who laid the groundwork for the development of the Belarusian language. The issue also features several book reviews. The Journal is the oldest English language double-blind peer-reviewed periodical on Belarusian studies.

Personalism and Personalist Regimes offers a systematic examination of the logic of personalism, or personalist rule, tackling comprehensively the study of personalist leaders and personalist regimes.

This book explains the complex relations and entanglements of Russia and its neighboring countries, an area that changed dramatically after the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War. The chapters discuss how the strategic cultures of different countries display common characteristics rooted in this special geopolitical space that has been subjected to simultaneous changes over a longer time. Shared historical experiences provide a common ground to interpret outside threats. The spatial context is relevant in this volume because the focus is on a geopolitical in-between-ness. The position in between two ideologically, politically or economically divergent entities affects the states’ security considerations, maneuvering space and policy perspectives. By cross-examining competing Russian and Western influences Miklossy and Smith create a persuasive context of regional political choices.

This book examines Polish-Belarusian relations, which, according to the Polish historian Marcel Kosman, were 'very close, though not always idyllic' (Kosman, 1979, p. 6), or, as the Belarusian author Piotra Rudkouski puts it, 'Historically and culturally, Belarus and Poland are Siamese twins' (Rudkouski, 2007, p. 185). According to the author of this book, the nature of Polish-Belarusian relations is determined by their historical and cultural positions, identities and geopolitical situations. He underlines that Polish-Belarusian relations are subordinate to Polish-Russian relations and, to a significant extent, play a role in Belarusian-Russian relations. The author pays attention to historical and cultural determinants, Polish policy towards the East, political, economic and cultural relations, and 'difficult issues' such as historical dialogue, national minorities (Poles in Belarus and Belarusians in Poland) and border and visa traffic. He tries to understand the circumstances and international interests of both states, which undoubtedly adds to the book's value.

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Belarus, an example of an authoritarian state, Humor and Rumor in the Post-Soviet Authoritarian State presents over one hundred contemporary political jokes in the contexts of their performance. Throughout, Anastasiya Astapova demonstrates the salience of the joke genre, the multiplicity of humor manifestations, and the fundamental presence of intertextual links between jokes and another folk genre—rumor. Informed by real-life fieldwork in an authoritarian regime, Humor and Rumor in the Post-Soviet Authoritarian State challenges many common theories of political humor, including the interpretation of political jokes as weapons of the weak. It illustrates how jokes and rumors remind communities of their fears, support paranoia, shape conformist behavior, and, consequently, reinforce the existing hegemony. In this rare study on everyday life in and reactions to repressive regimes, Astapova unveils political humor as it is lived.