This book is the first in English to explore both Belarus` complicated road to nationhood & to examine in detail its politics & economics since 1991, the nation`s first year of true independence. Andrew Wilson focuses particular attention on Aliaksandr Lukashenka`s surprising longevity as president, despite human rights abuses & involvement in yet another rigged election in December 2010. Wilson looks at Belarusian history as a series of false starts in the medieval & pre-modern periods, & at the many rival versions of Belarusian identity, culminating with the Soviet Belarusian project & the establishment of Belarus` current borders during World War II. He also addresses Belarus` on-off relationship with Russia, its simultaneous attempts to play a game of balance in the no-man`s-land between Russia & the West, & how, paradoxically, Belarus is at last becoming a true nation under the rule of Europe`s ”last dictator”.