John Löwenhardt – författare

Belarus is one of the least studied European states to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In fact, few Western specialists paid much attention to its affairs during the Soviet era. Nevertheless, Belarus constitutes an important and sensitive border region between Russia and the western part of the continent. In Postcommunist Belarus, a stellar group of contributors examines the issues and the search for identity that Belarus has confronted in the period leading up to and following independence. The country is run in an authoritarian fashion by President Alexander Lukashenko and many observers, both inside and outside Belarus, would use the term "dictatorship" to describe his rule. Belarusian authorities prefer to emphasize the strong support of the people for the president and his cautious approach to economic reform. It seems unlikely that the country can hold out permanently against the wider pressures of democratization and economic reform that are transforming its neighbors. The country's situation offers political scientists many facets for comparison with established models. Belarus is grappling with challenges that are conceptual and psychological as much as they are political, economic, and social. Through new research, the contributors to Postcommunist Belarus offer an important, coherent, and comparative perspective on this little-known country.

The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Politburo (1992) is the definitive history and political analysis of this institution. Extensive use of new Soviet sources permitted the authors to provide a comprehensive analysis of the way in which the Politburo operated and a sociological examination of its membership. The history of the Politburo is presented in a lucid and rigorous account that charts its development from creation by Lenin in 1919 to sidetracking by Gorbachev in 1990: an organization that, as the authors state, ‘subjected the whole of the USSR to its ruthless dictatorship, but itself bowed time and again to the leader of its own making’.