1.
Belarus
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Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres is forested and its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing. In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Belarus declared independence as the Belarusian Peoples Republic, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922 and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921, during WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years, in 1945 the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR. The parliament of the declared the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990. Alexander Lukashenko has served as the president since 1994. Belarus has been labeled Europes last dictatorship by some Western journalists, Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. Though not directly espousing communism like the five remaining communist countries of China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea, in 2000 Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, with some hints of forming a Union State. Over 70% of Belaruss population of 9.49 million resides in urban areas, more than 80% of the population is ethnic Belarusian, with sizable minorities of Russians, Poles and Ukrainians. Since a referendum in 1995, the country has had two official languages, Belarusian and Russian, the Constitution of Belarus does not declare any official religion, although the primary religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Belarus is the only European country to retain capital punishment in both law and practice, the name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya Rus, i. e. White Rus. There are several claims to the origin of the name White Rus, an alternate explanation for the name comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population. A third theory suggests that the old Rus lands that were not conquered by the Tatars had been referred to as white, other sources claim that, before 1267, the land not conquered by the Mongols was considered White Rus. The name Rus is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia, in some languages, including German and Dutch, the country is generally called White Russia to this day. The Latin term Alba Russia was used again by Pope Pius VI in 1783 to recognize the Society of Jesus there, exclaiming Approbo Societatem Jesu in Alba Russia degentem, approbo, approbo. The first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in the century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey. During the 17th century, the Russian tsars used White Rus to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
2.
Politics of Belarus
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The politics of Belarus takes place in a framework of a presidential republic with a bicameral parliament. The President of Belarus is the head of state, executive power is exercised by the government, at its top sits a prime minister, appointed by the President. Legislative power is de jure vested in the parliament, the National Assembly, however the president may enact decrees that are executed the same way as laws. Belaruss declaration of independence on 27 July 1990, did not stem from long-held political aspirations but from reactions to domestic and foreign events. Ukraines declaration of independence, in particular, led the leaders of then Belarusian SSR to realize that the Soviet Union was on the brink of dissolving, which it did. After the establishment of a Republic on August 25,1991, Stanislav Shushkevich was selected to be the first Belarusian leader, during that time frame, Shushkevich directed his country in a way to become free from its Soviet past and try to look towards the West. His successor, Alexander Lukashenko, changed all of that upon assuming office in 1994 and began to turn his attention away from the West, and, during his rule, Lukashenko began to re-instate Soviet-era functions and reintroduced the symbols from Soviet Belarus. Lukashenko, who is still in power, has caused increased focus on his country due to his manner, which has been considered authoritarian by some. The first attempt to establish a sovereign Belarusian state in history came in early 1918 with the declaration of independence of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. The short-lived state was destroyed by the Soviet invasion in 1919, the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic exists as a government in exile since then. The Bolsheviks created a puppet Soviet government of Belarus in Smalensk, in 1924, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus joined the USSR together with Soviet-controlled Russia, Ukraine and Transcaucasia. On August 28, Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kebich declared that he, the next day, both the Russian and the Belarusian governments suspended the activities of the communist party. Liberals and nationalist reformers used this period of confusion to advance their cause. On September 18, the parliament dismissed its chairman, Mikalay Dzyemyantsyey, for siding with the coup and replaced him with his deputy, Stanislau Shushkevich. The next day, pressed by the small but vocal democratic opposition, a new national flag was adopted, along with a new coat of arms. On December 8, Shushkevich joined Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk in signing the Belavezha Accords, the agreement also set up a voluntary association in the Soviet Unions place, the Commonwealth of Independent States. On December 21, Belarus signed the Alma Ata Declaration, which expanded the CIS membership to 11 of the 12 remaining republics of the Soviet Union. It was agreed that the headquarters of the CIS was to be in Minsk, the electorate seemed to be responsive
3.
Constitution of Belarus
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The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus is the ultimate law of Belarus. The Constitution was drafted by the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, the legislative body of the country. The contents of the Constitution include the preamble, nine sections, the structure and substance of the Constitution were heavily influenced by constitutions of Western powers and by Belarus experiences during the Soviet era. While much of the Constitution establishes the governments functions and powers, the Constitution has been amended twice since the original adoption, in 1996 and in 2004. Belarus adopted its first temporary constitution on October 11,1918, in 1919, after the occupation of the country by the Russian Bolsheviks, Belarus became a Soviet Republic, and a new constitution was adopted. Belarus continued to use this constitution until it – along with Russia, Ukraine, now the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, the country adopted its first Soviet-era constitution in 1927, complementing the recently adopted Soviet Constitution. After a re-adoption in 1937, the Byelorussian SSR adopted its last Soviet-era constitution in 1978, soon afterwards, the government established a Constitution Commission to facilitate the adoption of a post-Soviet constitution. In November 1991, the commission sent the first of three drafts to the Supreme Soviet, upon approval from the Supreme Soviet, the first draft was published in December 1991 in order for the Belarusian populace to make comments and suggestions. The commission submitted the third and final draft to the Supreme Soviet, the gazette Zvezda officially published the Constitution fifteen days later. The law, passed during the session of the Supreme Soviet, also provided transitional phases for office holders. Every year since 1994, March 15 has been commemorated in Belarus as Constitution Day, the Constitution introduces separation of powers. According to Belarusian law, each office is separate but must work together to serve the people, the Constitution also makes Belarus a presidential democracy, significantly reducing the role of the prime minister. Of the fifteen former Soviet republics, Belarus was the one of latest to create, a delay occurred due to debates among Supreme Soviet deputies, who were also trying to stave off the opposition and democratic forces who wanted to close the Supreme Soviet down for good. A power struggle to determine the relationship between the new branch and the legislature caused much of the debate in 1992 and 1993. The former chairman of the Supreme Soviet, Stanislau Shushkevich, criticized the early drafts due to the amount of power granted to the president, internally, the Constitution was influenced by the period of Soviet domination and a desire to bring back traditions brushed aside by the Soviet Government. The structure of the Constitution is similar to the Russian Federation, for example, in the preamble of the Constitution, Belarus assumes the responsibility for its destiny as a member of the international community. Belarus also pledges to honor the rights and freedoms of its citizens and to maintain a government that is run by the people. Section One of the Constitution sets up the framework and specifies that the government is run by the people of Belarus
4.
President of Belarus
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The office of President of Belarus is the head of state of Belarus. The office was created in 1994 with the passing of the Constitution of Belarus by the Supreme Soviet and this replaced the office of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet as the head of state. The tasks of the president including executing foreign and domestic policy, defend the rights and general welfare of citizens and residents, the president is mandated by the Constitution to serve as a leader in the social affairs of the country and to act as its main representative abroad. The duties, responsibilities and other transitional clauses dealing with the presidency are listed in Chapter Three, Articles 79 through 89, of the Constitution. The term for the president is five years, but due to a 1996 referendum, under the 1994 constitution, the president could only serve for two terms as president, but due to a change in the constitution, term limits were eliminated. During the course of the office, elections were held in 1994,2001,2006,2010, alexander Lukashenko has been the only person who has served as president since the elections in 1994. The Presidential office is located in the Republic Palace in Minsk, while the residence is located in Zaslawye. The Republic of Belarus was formed in 1991 shortly after declaring itself independent of the Soviet Union. Under the government of the Byelorussian SSR, the de facto leader of the Soviet Republic was the first secretaries of the Communist Party of Byelorussia, the only legal party in Soviet Belarus. From independence until passage of the Constitution in 1994, the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet was the head of state, as of 2014, he is the only person to have served as President of Belarus. Article 79 of the Constitution of Belarus gives the status of head of state to the President of the Republic of Belarus and he is also considered the guardian of the Constitution and the rights and freedoms of those who claim Belarusian citizenship or residency. The President is also entrusted with the safety, prosperity and stability of the country, in order to be able to run for office, a candidate must be a Belarusian citizen by birth that is over thirty-five years old. The candidate must also reside within the Republic for ten years, the provisions are set down in Article 80 of the Constitution. Elections for president occur every five years by a national vote, candidates, as soon as they are deemed eligible under Article 80 of the Constitution, are tasked with collecting signatures from eligible voters. After 100,000 signatures are collected and certified, the candidate is declared to be official by the Central Elections Committee, in the voting, the secret ballots are collected directly from eligible voters. During the first round of voting, if a candidate earns fifty percent plus one of the votes, if no one has achieved that number during the first round, then a run-off election will occur between two candidates who won the most votes. The person who wins the most votes in the run-off is declared the President-elect, in the event the office is vacant, the election to replace the president must occur between thirty and seventy days after the vacancy occurred. During normal election cycles, the elections must occur before the last two months of the current president, in either situation, the government body that calls for elections is the House of Representatives
5.
Alexander Lukashenko
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Aleksandr Grigoryevich Lukashenko is the President of Belarus, in office since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of an agricultural farm and spent time with the Soviet Border Troops. He was the deputy to vote against the independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union. Lukashenko opposed Western-backed shock therapy during the post-Soviet transition and he has retained Soviet-era policies, such as continued state ownership of key industries, despite objections from Western governments. Observers also contend that Lukashenko presides over a regime steeped in Soviet nostalgia, Belarus has been labeled Europes last dictatorship by some Western journalists, on account of Lukashenkos self-described authoritarian style of government. Lukashenko and other Belarusian officials are also the subject of sanctions imposed by the European Union, Lukashenko was born on 30 August 1954, in the settlement of Kopys in the Vitebsk Oblast of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. His grandfather, Trokhym Lukashenko, had born in the Sumy Oblast of Ukraine near Shostka. Lukashenko grew up without a father in his childhood, leading him to be taunted by his schoolmates for having an unmarried mother, Lukashenko graduated from the Mogilev Pedagogical Institute in 1975 and the Belarusian Agricultural Academy in 1985. He served in the Border Guard from 1975 to 1977 and in the Soviet Army from 1980 to 1982, in addition, he led an All-Union Leninist Young Communist League chapter in Mogilev from 1977 to 1978. While in the Soviet Army, Lukashenko was an officer of the 120th Guards Motor Rifle Division, after leaving the military, he became the deputy chairman of a collective farm in 1982 and in 1985. He was promoted to the post of director of the Gorodets state farm, in 1990, Lukashenko was elected Deputy to the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus. He was the deputy of the Belarusian parliament who voted against ratification of the December 1991 agreement that dissolved the Soviet Union. Having acquired a reputation as an eloquent opponent of corruption, Lukashenko was elected in 1993 to serve as the chairman of the committee of the Belarusian parliament. While the charges were never fully proven against him, Shushkevich resigned his chairmanship due to the embarrassment of the series of events, a new Belarusian constitution enacted in early 1994 paved the way for the first--and to date, only--democratic presidential election on 23 June and 10 July. Six candidates stood in the first round, including Lukashenko, who campaigned as an independent on a populist platform of defeat the mafia against the Conspiracy of New World Order, Shushkevich and Kebich also ran, with the latter regarded as the clear favorite. Lukashenko won 45. 1% of the vote while Kebich received 17. 4%, Zyanon Paznyak received 12. 9% and Shushkevich, Lukashenko won the second round of the election on 10 July with 80. 1% of the vote. Shortly after his election, he addressed the State Duma of the Russian Federation in Moscow proposing a new Union of Slavic states, which would culminate in the creation of the Union State in 1999. In May 1995, Belarus held a referendum on changing its national symbols, the referendum made the Russian language equal to Belarusian
6.
National Assembly of Belarus
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The National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus is the bicameral parliament that governs Belarus. The House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic may be convened to an extraordinary session, any bill must be initially considered in the House of Representatives and then in the Council of the Republic. According to the Constitution, any bill that impacts the state budget must be approved by the president or the government before being voted on and its predecessor was the Supreme Soviet of Belarus. Why Does Europe Engage With Belaruss Rubber Stamp Parliament
7.
House of Representatives of Belarus
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Under the 1996 Constitution, the House of Representatives is the lower house of the parliament of Belarus. It consists of 110 deputies elected on the basis of universal, equal, free and it is a majoritarian system, with the outcome decided by overall majorities in single-member constituencies. Any citizen of 21 years is eligible for election, the upper house is the Council of the Republic. Bills adopted by the House of Representatives are being sent to the Council of the Republic for consideration within five days, in practice, the House of Representatives has little real power. Notably, it has control over government spending, it cannot pass a law to increase or decrease the budget without presidential consent. It has been dominated by supporters of President Alexander Lukashenko since its inception, the Belarusian political system concentrates nearly all decision-making power in the presidents hands, and there is almost no opposition to executive decisions
8.
All Belarusian People's Assembly
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The All Belarusian Peoples Assembly is a general meeting of the Belarusian Government with industry leaders and other top officials from every sector of the government. The citizens of Belarus are also permitted to take part of the discussion, the fourth and last recent session of the All Belarusian Peoples Assembly took place in December,2010. A decree was passed by President Lukashenko on August 29,1996 to announce the meeting of the first Assembly, the meeting was later held from October 19–20 of that same year. The second Assembly took place in May 2001, the third in March 2006, the fourth in 2010, the law on All Belarusian and local assemblies The 2016 Belarusian Peoples Congress, the Illusion of Democracy
9.
Constitutional Court of Belarus
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The Constitutional Court of Belarus is one of the top-tier courts in the Eastern European country. Created in 1994, the Court is run under guidelines that were issued in 1997, the purpose of the court is to render justice in areas where the constitution has come into question, such as a local law contradicting the constitution. There are 12 judges that sit on the bench, with all having degrees in legal studies, six of the judges are appointed by the President while the other six are appointed by the Council of the Republic. Regardless of the manner of appointment, the judges sit on the bench for a term of 11 years
10.
Supreme Court of Belarus
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The Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus is the highest-tier court inside of Belarus and acts as the final court of review. Its general tasks include the oversight of courts and can render justice in areas of general civil. Unlike the United States Supreme Court, constitutional issues are not sent to the Belarusian Supreme Court, the judges to the Supreme Court are appointed by the president. On 1 January 2014 the Supreme Economic Court of Belarus merged with the Supreme Court
11.
Belarusian presidential election, 2006
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The Belarusian presidential election of 2006 was held on 19 March. The result was a victory for incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, who received 84. 4% of the vote, however, Western observers deemed the elections rigged. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe declared that the failed to meet OSCE commitments for democratic elections. In contrast, election observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States described the vote as open, on 17 February 2006, the Central Election Commission approved the following list of candidates, Alexander Lukashenko, incumbent, in office since 1994, not associated with any party. Alaksandar Milinkievič, challenger, candidate from a union, United Democratic Forces of Belarus. Alaksandar Kazulin, Belarusian Social Democratic Party, such actions towards a sovereign state hardly comply with standards of international law, according to the same election monitoring body. The OSCE have also sent monitors to Belarus to observe the elections, on 2 March 2006, opposition candidate Alaksandar Kazulin attempted to enter the third meeting of the All Belarusian Peoples Assembly, which was hosted by President Lukashenko. Security officers arrested and beat Kazulin, who was charged with disorderly conduct, in the build-up to the elections, several Georgians who were part of the OSCE observer team were intercepted by the Belarusian Frontier Guard and placed under custody. On 19 March 2006 exit polls showed Lukashenko winning a term in a landslide, amid opposition claims of vote-rigging. The EcooM organization gave Lukashenko 84. 2% of the vote and Milinkievich just 2 percent, while the Belarusian Committee of Youth Organizations gave Lukashenko 84. 2%, Lukashenko was sworn in for his third term on 8 April 2006. Belarusian authorities initially vowed to crush unrest in the event of large-scale protests following the election, since then, however, they have decided to use more subtle methods of attrition to subdue protesters. Lukashenko declared victory and defeat of The Jeans Revolution, promising not to jail Milinkevich, on 23 March the Constitutional Court of Belarus rejected the oppositions appeals. Lukashenko will be inaugurated on Monday, on 24 March Belarusian police broke up days of protests in central Minsk against President Lukashenkos re-election, detaining about 460 demonstrators in an early hours swoop. The demonstrators had rejected calls to leave the square, focus of the protests. They had erected tents and kept protesting round the clock despite sub-zero temperatures at night, one of the detained protesters called Reuters by mobile phone and said they were being taken to a pre-trial detention centre in the capital. On 25 March riot police clashed with protesters, forcing demonstrators back, one of the protesters was killed in the fight. Four explosions were heard, apparently percussion grenades set off by police, many protesters were detained, including one of the opposition leaders, Alexander Kozulin, Russian news agencies reported. The main opposition leader, Alexander Milinkevich, denied reports by Russian news agencies that he himself was detained, on 29 March Gazeta. ru reported that opposition leader Kozulin is arrested and can get up to 6 years in jail for organizing riots and hooliganism
12.
Belarusian presidential election, 2010
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A presidential election was held in Belarus on 19 December 2010. The election was planned for the beginning of 2011. However, the date was set during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly of Belarus on September 14,2010. Of the ten candidates, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner by the Central Election Commission with 79. 67% of the votes, Andrej Sannikaŭ received the second-highest percentage. After a protest was violently suppressed by police the night after the election, hundreds of protesters. Western countries decried the election as a farce and an affront to democracy. The United States and the European Union called for the release of all imprisoned former candidates, by contrast, countries such as Syria, China, Vietnam, and Russia congratulated the re-elected incumbent. More demonstrators were arrested during protests in the aftermath of the 2006 presidential election. During Lukashenkos presidency Belarus has never held a poll seen as fair by Western monitors, the new constitution, enacted in 1994, has been amended twice, the first amendment – in 1996 – increased the power of the presidency and established a bicameral parliament. In 2004, the two-term presidential limit was abolished and it has also stated that the Belarusian political system is composed of weak political party structures with no opposition deputies in the previous parliament. The election was called by the House of Representatives on 14 September, President Alexander Lukashenko, when addressing the press in February 2007, stated that his health permitting, he would run in 2011. According to the result of a referendum in 2004, Lukashenko was declared the first President of Belarus and therefore had no term limits. On May 4,2010, in an interview with Reuters, he stated, alaksandar Milinkievič, of the For Freedom movement, initially announced his bid, but canceled it in September. The run-up to the campaign was marked by a series of Russian media attacks upon the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko, Lukashenko referred to the media attack as dirty propaganda. Campaigning officially began on November 19, with candidates holding one-to-one meetings across the country and beginning their TV, every candidate was entitled to make two 30-minute broadcasts on Belarusian TV and Radio until 4 December, and could take part in a live media debate. The Central Election Commission said that all nine opposition figures were likely to get less than half the vote total incumbent Lukashenko would get, no independent verification of the government polls were allowed. In the first week of September 2010, candidate Andrej Sannikaŭs campaign press secretary Aleh Byabenin was found hanged, the Central Election Commission of Belarus said it was ready to cooperate with the OSCEs Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in monitoring the election. The CEC issued a warning to Uładzimier Niaklajeŭs Say the Truth, movement for violating the Electoral Legislation when his organisation gathered signatures of ineligible constituents for subscription lists
13.
Belarusian presidential election, 2015
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Presidential elections were held in Belarus on 11 October 2015. Long-term president Alexander Lukashenko ran for his term in office. He was re-elected with 83. 47% of the vote, the against all option received more votes than any opposition candidate. Prior to the vote, six incarcerated opposition figures were pardoned by Lukashenko, however, the hope that this gave us for broader electoral progress was largely unfulfilled. Fewer protests occurred during this election than during others, mostly due to unease over the Maidan protests in Ukraine two years prior. The government of Belarus exploited this unease by advocating stability over change, although five candidates obtained over 100,000 signatures, the vast majority of Tereshchenkos signatures were declared invalid, resulting in only four candidates being able to contest the elections. Unlike in other nations, Belarusian political parties do not hold very significant influence in parliament or in elections, for instance, Lukashenko himself runs as an independent instead of representing a political party. Opposition parties are allowed to exist, but only in a sense as they hold virtually no power in government. Tatsiana Karatkevich represented the Peoples Referendum in the 2015 election, which is a created by a coalition of various opposition leaders instead of a political party. On the same day, the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature, Svetlana Alexievich, the OSCE/ODIHR long-term observation mission was led by Jacques Faure and included more than 40 observers, whilst the short-term observation mission had over 400 people. The OSCEs Kent Härstedt suggested the vote may have been undermined by significant problems and it is clear that Belarus still has a long way to go towards fulfilling its democratic commitments. Several cases of forced early voting were recorded, usually students of state universities. The Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections group also registered the overestimation of turnout, on election day, independent observers noted several violations during the elections. In Barysaw, chairman of the District Election Commission didnt announce the results before calling somewhere, after his call, the observer states, the number of votes for the opposition candidate Karatkevich in the final protocol decreased from 219 to 77. In Salihorsk polling station 24, the number of voters was announced to be 1,190, a similar incident happened in Babruysk, where the official turnout on three polling stations differed from the observers calculations by several hundred voters in each station. The observer was not allowed to watch the counting process, in Slonim, an independent observer noticed two packs of filled ballots thrown into the early voting ballot box. According to the Central Election Commission, more than 36% of voters used the early voting process, overall turnout was 87. 22% – highest in Vitebsk Region at 91. 08% and lowest in Minsk at 74. 38%. Alexander Lukashenko won the election with 83. 47% of the vote, head of the Central Election Commission, Lidiya Yermoshina is quoted to say, I think the election campaign was civilized, cultured and calm
14.
Belarusian parliamentary election, 2008
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The Belarusian parliamentary election,2008 was held in Belarus on 28 September 2008. The 110 seats in the House of Representatives were at stake, just prior to the election, the number of the registered candidates was reduced to 263,82 of the candidates were members of political parties, the others were non-partisans loyal to the government. They included chief executives of local authorities and medical institutions, Belarusian citizens abroad were able to cast their votes at 40 polling stations located in 31 countries. Advance voting occurred on September 23 through September 26 and was characterized by active participation, voter turnout was reported to be 76. 7%. But according to a CIS election observation mission, the elections in Belarus conformed to international standards, the Central Election Commission declared this to be due to the overwhelming popular fear of mass demonstrations and of the radical political changes demanded by the opposition. This declaration was met with immediate anti-governmental demonstrations in the centre of Minsk protesting against electoral fraud, president Lukashenko commented that the opposition in Belarus is financed by foreign countries and is not needed. Belarus election paradox by Natalia Leshchenko First report of OSCE Parliamentary Election in Belarus 2008 on Google Maps
15.
Belarusian parliamentary election, 2012
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Parliamentary elections were held in Belarus on 23 September 2012. At stake were the 110 seats in the House of Representatives, according to the 1994 electoral law, the 110 members of the House of Representatives were elected in single-member districts. Winning candidates had to achieve a majority of the vote in their constituency. If neither were achieved, a round would have been held. For the second round the turnout threshold was reduced to 25%, except in cases in which there is one candidate contesting the second round. If only one ran in the second round, they still had to achieve a majority of the vote. The voting age was set at 18, whilst candidates had to be at least 21, members of the Council of the Republic and members of a local councils were ineligible for election to the House of Representatives. Candidates had to collect at least 1,000 signatures from voters in the constituency they intended to run in, voting centres were open from 08,00 to around 20,00. Four previous days of voting for students, armed service staff and police resulted in at a voter turnout of at least 19%. The BPF Party and the United Civic Party both pulled out of the election a week before polling day, following the 2010 presidential election and the consequent arrests of activists and candidates, including Andrei Sannikov and Vladimir Neklyayev were reportedly absent from the political limelight. Alexander Milinkevich, who ran in the 2006 presidential election tried to register as a candidate for the elections but was disqualified for technical reasons. The two main parties, including the United Civic Party, called for voters to go fishing or pick mushrooms in avoiding to vote so as not to give the election. The UCP posted a video on YouTube that showed its activists picking mushrooms, playing chess, Party leader Anatoly Lebedko also said that protests were banned and groups could not hand out leaflets, with those who tried being stopped by police and the leaflets being seized. President Alexander Lukashenko reacted by saying that the parties were afraid of going to the people. In turn, opposition activists accused the government of inducing higher education students to vote sometimes under the threat of losing subsidies for accommodation, some of photographers were later released after about two hours. Independent political analyst Alexander Klaskovsky was quoted as saying, The opposition is virtually broken and it has few resources and there is no real programme. 109 of 110 MPs were elected receiving a majority with the necessary turnout. Of the independent candidates,63 were members of Belaya Rus, the Central Election Commission declared voter turnout had been at least 65. 9%, thus validating the result
16.
Regions of Belarus
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At the top level of administration, Belarus is divided into six regions and the city of Minsk, which has a special status being the capital of Belarus. Minsk is also the capital of Minsk Region, at the second level, the regions are divided into raions. The layout and extent of the regions were set in 1960 when Belarus was a part of the Soviet Union, at the start of the 20th century, the boundaries of the Belarusian lands within the Russian Empire were still being defined. Basically in 1900 it contained the entire Minsk Governorate and Mogilev Governorate, the majority of Grodno Governorate, parts of Vitebsk Governorate, World War I, the independence of Poland, as well as the 1920-1921 Polish–Soviet War affected the boundaries. In 1921, Belarus had what is now all of Minsk Governorate except for the fringe, the western part of Gomel Region, a western slice of Mahilyow. In 1926 the eastern part of Gomel region was added, in Soviet Belarus, new administrative units, called voblast were introduced in 1938. And again, during World War II, the boundaries fluctuated, in 1939 they were reset with Belarus gaining territory to the west, Baranavichy, Belastok, Brest, Pinsk, and Vileyka oblasts. In 1944 Belastok was eliminated and the new oblasts of Babruysk, Grodno, at that same time, Vileika Voblast was renamed Molodechno Voblast. Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names of Belarus
17.
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
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To the west it bordered Poland. Within the Soviet Union, it bordered Lithuania and Latvian to the north, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia was declared by the Bolsheviks on 1 January 1919 following the declaration of independence by the Belarusian Democratic Republic in March 1918. In 1922, the BSSR was one of the four founding members of the Soviet Union, together with the Ukrainian SSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, Byelorussia was one of several Soviet republics occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. This non-sovereign country of several million was a UN-founding-member, towards the final years of the Soviet Republics existence, the Supreme Soviet of Byelorussian SSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty on 27 July 1990. On 15 August 1991, Stanislau Shushkevich was elected as the countrys first president, ten days later on 25 August 1991, Byelorussian SSR declared its independence and renamed to the Republic of Belarus. The Soviet Union was dissolved four months later on December 26,1991 and this asserted that the territories are all Russian and all the peoples are also Russian, in the case of the Belarusians, they were variants of the Russian people. Following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the term White Russia caused some confusion as it was also the name of the force that opposed the red Bolsheviks. During the period of the Byelorussian SSR, the term Byelorussia was embraced as part of a national consciousness, in western Belarus under Polish control, Byelorussia became commonly used in the regions of Białystok and Grodno during the interwar period. Upon the establishment of the Byelorussian Socialist Soviet Republic in 1920, in 1936, with the proclamation of the 1936 Soviet Constitution, the republic was renamed to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic transposing the second and third words. On August 25,1991 the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR renamed the Soviet republic to the Republic of Belarus, conservative forces in the newly independent Belarus did not support the name change and opposed its inclusion in the 1991 draft of the Constitution of Belarus. Prior to the First World War, Belarusian lands were part of the Russian Empire, during the War, the Russian Western Fronts Great retreat in August/September 1915 ended with the lands of Grodno and most of Vilno guberniyas occupied by Germany. The abdication of the Tsar in light of the February Revolution in Russia in early 1917, as central authority waned, different political and ethnic groups strived for greater self-determination and even secession from the increasingly ineffective Russian Provisional Government. The momentum picked up after the incompetent actions of the 10th Army during the ill-fated Kerensky Offensive during the summer. On 26 November, the committee of workers, peasants and soldiers deputies for the Western Oblast was merged with the Western fronts executive committee. During the autumn 1917/winter of 1918, the Western Oblast was headed by Aleksandr Myasnikyan as head of the Western Oblasts Military Revolutionary Committee, Myasnikyan took over as chair of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Partys committee for Western Oblast and Moisey Kalmanovich as chair of the Obliskomzap. As a result, on 7th of December, when the first All-Belarusian congress convened, a cease-fire was quickly agreed and proper peace negotiations began in December. The German Operation Faustschlag was of immediate success and within 11 days, they were able to make a serious advance eastward, taking over Ukraine, Baltic states and this forced the Obliskomzap to evacuate to Smolensk. The Smolensk guberniya was passed to the Western Oblast, faced with the German demands, the Bolsheviks accepted their terms at the final Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which was signed on 3 March 1918
18.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
19.
United Nations
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The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
20.
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
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The Ukrainian SSR was a founding member of the United Nations, although it was legally represented by the All-Union state in its affairs with countries outside of the Soviet Union. From the start, the city of Kharkiv served as the republics capital. However, in 1934, the seat of government was moved to the city of Kyiv. Geographically, the Ukrainian SSR was situated in Eastern Europe to the north of the Black Sea, bordered by the Soviet republics of Moldavia, Byelorussia, the Ukrainian SSRs border with Czechoslovakia formed the Soviet Unions western-most border point. According to the Soviet Census of 1989 the republic had a population of 51,706,746 inhabitants, the name Ukraine, derived from the Slavic word kraj, meaning land or border. It was first used to part of the territory of Kievan Rus in the 12th century. The name has been used in a variety of ways since the twelfth century, after the abdication of the tsar and the start of the process of the destruction of the Russian Empire many people in Ukraine wished to establish a Ukrainian Republic. During a period of war from 1917-23 many factions claiming themselves governments of the newly born republic were formed, each with supporters. The two most prominent of them were the government in Kyiv and the government in Kharkiv, the former being the Ukrainian Peoples Republic and the latter the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. This government of the Soviet Ukrainian Republic was founded on 24–25 December 1917, in its publications it names itself either the Republic of Soviets of Workers, Soldiers, and Peasants Deputies or the Ukrainian Peoples Republic of Soviets. The last session of the government took place in the city of Taganrog, in July 1918 the former members of the government formed the Communist Party of Ukraine, the constituent assembly of which took place in Moscow. On 10 March 1919, according to the 3rd Congress of Soviets in Ukraine the name of the state was changed to the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. After the ratification of the 1936 Soviet Constitution, the names of all Soviet republics were changed, transposing the second, during its existence, the Ukrainian SSR was commonly referred to as Ukraine or the Ukraine. On 24 August 1991, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic declared independence, since the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine in June 1996, the country became known simply as Ukraine, which is the name used to this day. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, several factions sought to create an independent Ukrainian state, the most popular faction was initially the local Socialist Revolutionary Party that composed the local government together with Federalists and Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks boycotted any government initiatives most of the time, instigating several armed riots in order to establish the Soviet power without any intent for consensus, immediately after the October Revolution in Petrograd, Bolsheviks instigated the Kiev Bolshevik Uprising to support the Revolution and secure Kyiv. Due to a lack of support from the local population and anti-revolutionary Central Rada, however. Most moved to Kharkiv and received the support of the eastern Ukrainian cities, later, this move was regarded as a mistake by some of the Peoples Commissars
21.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 26,1991. It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and that evening at 7,32, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag. Previously, from August to December, all the individual republics, the week before the unions formal dissolution,11 republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol formally establishing the CIS and declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the USSR also signalled the end of the Cold War, on the other hand, only the Baltic states have joined NATO and the European Union. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo on March 11,1985, Gorbachev, aged 54, was the youngest member of the Politburo. His initial goal as general secretary was to revive the Soviet economy, the reforms began with personnel changes of senior Brezhnev-era officials who would impede political and economic change. On April 23,1985, Gorbachev brought two protégés, Yegor Ligachev and Nikolai Ryzhkov, into the Politburo as full members. He kept the power ministries happy by promoting KGB Head Viktor Chebrikov from candidate to full member and this liberalisation, however, fostered nationalist movements and ethnic disputes within the Soviet Union. Under Gorbachevs leadership, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1989 introduced limited competitive elections to a new central legislature, in May 1985, Gorbachev delivered a speech in Leningrad advocating reforms and an anti-alcohol campaign to tackle widespread alcoholism. Prices of vodka, wine, and beer were raised in order to make these drinks more expensive and a disincentive to consumers, unlike most forms of rationing intended to conserve scarce goods, this was done to restrict sales with the overt goal of curtailing drunkenness. Gorbachevs plan also included billboards promoting sobriety, increased penalties for public drunkenness, however, Gorbachev soon faced the same adverse economic reaction to his prohibition as did the last Tsar. The disincentivization of alcohol consumption was a blow to the state budget according to Alexander Yakovlev. Alcohol production migrated to the market, or through moonshining as some made bathtub vodka with homegrown potatoes. The purpose of these reforms, however, was to prop up the centrally planned economy, unlike later reforms. The latter, disparaged as Mr Nyet in the West, had served for 28 years as Minister of Foreign Affairs, gromyko was relegated to the largely ceremonial position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, as he was considered an old thinker. In the fall of 1985, Gorbachev continued to bring younger, at the next Central Committee meeting on October 15, Tikhonov retired from the Politburo and Talyzin became a candidate. Finally, on December 23,1985, Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party replacing Viktor Grishin, Gorbachev continued to press for greater liberalization. The CTAG Helsinki-86 was founded in July 1986 in the Latvian port town of Liepāja by three workers, Linards Grantiņš, Raimonds Bitenieks, and Mārtiņš Bariss and its name refers to the human-rights statements of the Helsinki Accords
22.
Commonwealth of Independent States
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The Commonwealth of Independent States, also called the Russian Commonwealth, is a regional organization formed during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Nine out of the 15 former Soviet Republics are member states, Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008, while the Baltic states chose not to participate. The CIS has few supranational powers but aims to be more than a purely symbolic organization, nominally possessing coordinating powers in the realms of trade, finance, lawmaking and it has also promoted cooperation on cross-border crime prevention. Furthermore, eight of the nine CIS member states participate in the CIS Free Trade Area, three organizations are under the overview of the CIS, namely the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Union State. While the first and the second are military and economic alliances, in March 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Soviet Union, proposed a federation by holding a referendum to preserve the Union as the Union of Sovereign States. The new treaty signing never happened as the Communist Party hardliners staged a coup in August that year. Following the events of August, the republics had declared their independence fearing another coup, at the same time they announced that the new alliance would be open to all republics of the former Soviet Union, and to other nations sharing the same goals. The CIS charter stated that all the members were sovereign and independent nations, Georgia joined two years later, in December 1993. At this point,12 of the 15 former Soviet Republics participated in the CIS, the three Baltic states did not, reflecting their governments view that the post-1940 Soviet occupation of their territory was illegitimate. In May 2009, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine joined the Eastern Partnership, there are nine full member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Creation Agreement remained the main constituent document of the CIS until January 1993, the charter formalised the concept of membership, a member country is defined as a country that ratifies the CIS Charter. Turkmenistan has not ratified the charter and changed its CIS standing to associate member as of 26 August 2005 in order to be consistent with its UN-recognised international neutrality status, thus it does not regard itself as a member of the CIS. In 1993 Ukraine became an Associate Member of CIS, following the 2014 parliamentary election, a new bill to denounce the CIS agreement was introduced. In September 2015 the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Ukraine will continue taking part in CIS on a selective basis, since that month Ukraine has had no representatives in the CIS Executive Committee building. Since its inception, one of the goals of the CIS has been to provide a forum for discussing issues related to the social. To achieve this goal member states have agreed to promote and protect human rights, even before the 1995 human rights treaty, the Charter of the CIS that was adopted in 1991 created, in article 33, a Human Rights Commission sitting in Minsk, Belarus. This was confirmed by decision of the Council of Heads of States of the CIS in 1993, in 1995, the CIS adopted a human rights treaty that includes civil and political as well as social and economic human rights. This treaty entered force in 1998
23.
NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved
24.
Partnership for Peace
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The Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union,22 states are members. On April 26,1995 Malta became a member of PfP, on March 20,2008 Malta decided to reactivate their PfP membership, this was accepted by NATO at the summit in Bucharest on April 3,2008. During the NATO summit in Riga on November 29,2006, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia were invited to join PfP, Cyprus is the only European Union member state that is neither a NATO member state nor a member of the PfP program. Turkey, a member of NATO, is likely to veto any attempt by Cyprus to engage with NATO until the dispute is resolved. Christofias successor, Nicos Anastasiades, has publicly supported PfP membership for Cyprus, kosovo has described PfP membership as a strategic objective of the government. Kosovo submitted an application to join the PfP program in July 2012, however, four NATO member states, Greece, Romania, Spain and Slovakia, do not recognize Kosovos independence and have threatened to block their participation in the program. To be eligible to join, the Kosovan Armed Forces must be established
25.
International Monetary Fund
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The International Monetary Fund is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D. C. It now plays a role in the management of balance of payments difficulties. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. As of 2016, the fund had SDR477 billion, the rationale for this is that private international capital markets function imperfectly and many countries have limited access to financial markets. The IMF provides alternate sources of financing and this assistance was meant to prevent the spread of international economic crises. The IMF was also intended to help mend the pieces of the economy after the Great Depression. As well, to provide investments for economic growth and projects such as infrastructure. The IMFs role was altered by the floating exchange rates post-1971. It shifted to examining the economic policies of countries with IMF loan agreements to determine if a shortage of capital was due to economic fluctuations or economic policy, the IMF also researched what types of government policy would ensure economic recovery. Rather than maintaining a position of oversight of only exchange rates and their role became a lot more active because the IMF now manages economic policy rather than just exchange rates. In addition, the IMF negotiates conditions on lending and loans under their policy of conditionality, nonconcessional loans, which include interest rates, are provided mainly through Stand-By Arrangements, the Flexible Credit Line, the Precautionary and Liquidity Line, and the Extended Fund Facility. The IMF provides emergency assistance via the Rapid Financing Instrument to members facing urgent balance-of-payments needs, the IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary and financial system and monitor the economic and financial policies of its member countries. This activity is known as surveillance and facilitates international cooperation, the responsibilities changed from those of guardian to those of overseer of members’ policies. In 1995 the International Monetary Fund began work on data dissemination standards with the view of guiding IMF member countries to disseminate their economic and financial data to the public. The executive board approved the SDDS and GDDS in 1996 and 1997 respectively, the system is aimed primarily at statisticians and aims to improve many aspects of statistical systems in a country. It is also part of the World Bank Millennium Development Goals, some countries initially used the GDDS, but later upgraded to SDDS. The IMF does require collateral from countries for loans but also requires the government seeking assistance to correct its macroeconomic imbalances in the form of policy reform, if the conditions are not met, the funds are withheld. The concept of conditionality was introduced in a 1952 Executive Board decision, conditionality is associated with economic theory as well as an enforcement mechanism for repayment
26.
World Bank
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The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to countries of the world for capital programs. It comprises two institutions, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Development Association, the World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group, which is part of the United Nations system. The World Banks stated official goal is the reduction of poverty, the president of the World Bank is, traditionally, an American. The World Bank and the IMF are both based in Washington, D. C. and work closely with each other, although many countries were represented at the Bretton Woods Conference, the United States and United Kingdom were the most powerful in attendance and dominated the negotiations. Before 1974 the reconstruction and development loans provided by the World Bank were relatively small, the Banks staff were aware of the need to instill confidence in the bank. Fiscal conservatism ruled, and loan applications had to meet strict criteria, the first country to receive a World Bank loan was France. The Banks president at the time, John McCloy, chose France over two other applicants, Poland and Chile, the loan was for US$250 million, half the amount requested, and it came with strict conditions. France had to agree to produce a budget and give priority of debt repayment to the World Bank over other governments. World Bank staff closely monitored the use of the funds to ensure that the French government met the conditions. In addition, before the loan was approved, the United States State Department told the French government that its members associated with the Communist Party would first have to be removed, the French government complied with this diktat and removed the Communist coalition government - the so-called tripartisme. Within hours, the loan to France was approved, when the Marshall Plan went into effect in 1947, many European countries began receiving aid from other sources. Faced with this competition, the World Bank shifted its focus to non-European countries, in 1960, the International Development Association was formed, providing soft loans to developing countries. From 1974 to 1980 the bank concentrated on meeting the needs of people in the developing world. The size and number of loans to borrowers was greatly increased as loan targets expanded from infrastructure into social services and these changes can be attributed to Robert McNamara, who was appointed to the presidency in 1968 by Lyndon B. Johnson. McNamara implored bank treasurer Eugene Rotberg to seek out new sources of capital outside of the banks that had been the primary sources of funding. Rotberg used the bond market to increase the capital available to the bank. One consequence of the period of poverty alleviation lending was the rise of third world debt. From 1976 to 1980 developing world debt rose at an annual rate of 20%
27.
Union State
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The Union State, also referred to as the Union State of Russia and Belarus, is a supranational union consisting of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. The Commonwealth of Belarus and Russia was founded on 2 April 1996. The basis of the union was strengthened on 2 April 1997, with the signing of the Treaty on the Union between Belarus and Russia at which time its name was changed to the Union of Belarus and Russia. Several further agreements were signed on 25 December 1998, with the intention of providing greater political, economic, nevertheless, the nature of the political entity remained vague. The Treaty on the Creation of a Union State of Russia, the intention was to achieve a federation like the Soviet Union, with a common president, parliament, flag, coat of arms, anthem, constitution, army, citizenship, currency, etc. The Union was ratified by the Russian State Duma on 22 December 1999, on the latter date the Treaty and the Union came into effect. Each state has one vote in the Council, meaning effectively that all decisions must be unanimous, a Council of Ministers, composed of the member states Prime Ministers, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Economy, and Finance and the State Secretary of the Union. The Union Parliament has never put into effect. A Court of the Union, consisting of nine judges appointed for six-year terms, the Court of the Union was never established. A House of Audit or Accounting Chamber, controlling the implementation of the budget, each member state retains its own sovereignty and international personality, meaning that Russia and Belarus are still fully responsible for their own internal affairs and external relations. The Union State cannot claim representation in other organizations or overrule legislation or government decisions of its member states. As such, the Union State most resembles a supranational confederation on the order of the African Union, Pavel Borodin is the State Secretary of the Union. He was first appointed by the Supreme State Council on January 26,2000 for a four-year term, in 2004 and 2008 his term was renewed for an additional four years. Plans had also set in motion to implement a common currency across the Union. Additionally, Belarus and Russia have thus far failed to institute any symbols or even a flag for the Union State, nevertheless, a song called Sovereign Union of Nations has been proposed as the Unions unofficial anthem. The song, which was modified from the National Anthem of the Soviet Union, on November 16,2010, it was announced by the Union State website that the Constitutional Act was 99% ready. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko promised to introduce a common currency on January 1,2004, the currency was not introduced, and the plan was pushed back by one year. On January 1,2005, the Union State again failed to introduce a currency, and it was again postponed by one year
28.
Free trade
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Free trade is one of the most debated topics in economics of the 19th, 20th, and 21st century. Arguments over free trade can be divided into economic, moral, the World Trade Organization was created to open up markets and promote international trade based on the Free Trade paradigm. The WTO creates and monitors agreements to reduce trade barriers, and arbitrates in disputes over foreign market access and its definition of Free Trade is trade on a level playing field, so that the unlimited exchange of goods between countries is not necessarily Free. Therefore, any import restriction makes the domestic society as a whole worse off than it would be with unlimited imports, the artificial handicap of a foreign subsidy seems much less just to local production than advantages deriving from geography, natural resources, or native skill. Electorates often prefer fairplay to Utilitarian considerations, if trade barriers are already low, the threat of a trade war of tit-for-tat tariff increases may reduce the temptation for either partner in bilateral trade to raise import barriers. It would tend to decrease the power and revenue flowing to government bureaucrats. In the history of trade, two types of arguments have been advanced in favor of allowing purchases from abroad, and free trade in the broader sense. One set of arguments for free trade could be classified as moral arguments listed below, another set of arguments is essentially economic, that free trade will make society more prosperous. These are mostly technical arguments from the discipline of economics, starting especially with Smiths The Wealth of Nations, the 18th and 19th century intellectuals who backed free trade rarely did so under the rubric of increasing material wealth. In many cases this was given as the least important reason for free trade, rather, they argued that international society would be improved by increased commerce. Some of these, and later, sociopolitical arguments are listed here, adam Smith thought that protectionism against free trade was a scam on the public on behalf of producers, carried out in the name of nationalism. Even if overall economic interests had not been harmed by tariffs, classical economic analysis shows that free trade increases the global level of output because free trade permits specialization among countries. Specialization allows nations to devote their resources to the production of the particular goods. The benefits of specialization, coupled with economies of scale, increase the production possibility frontier. An increase in the production possibility frontier indicates that the absolute quantity of goods. Not only are the quantity of goods and services higher. Free trade policies are often associated with general laissez-faire economic politics and parties, voluntary exchange, by virtue of its voluntary nature, is assumed to be beneficial to the parties involved—why else would they engage in the exchange. Thus, the restriction of voluntary exchange restricts commerce and ultimately the accumulation of wealth in the absence of real-world externalities such as infant industry protection, here is the production possibilities frontier for a fictional country, Country A
29.
Currency union
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A currency union involves two or more states sharing the same currency without them necessarily having any further integration. Note, Every customs and monetary union and economic and monetary union also has a currency union. Zimbabwe is theoretically in a union with four blocs as the South African rand, Botswana pula, British pound and US dollar freely circulate. Between Republic of Ireland and United Kingdom between 1928 and 1979 using the Irish Pound. and Di Bartolomeo, G. and Tirelli, ‘Monetary conservatism and fiscal coordination in a monetary union’, in, ‘Economics Letters’,94, 56-63. Indianapolis, Library of Economics and Liberty, African monetary union inches closer United States of Southern Africa. South Africa proposes adoption of the rand as provisional SADC common currency
30.
Civil and political rights
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Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure ones ability to participate in the civil and political life of the society, Civil and political rights form the original and main part of international human rights. They comprise the first portion of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the phrase civil rights is a translation of Latin ius civis. Roman citizens could be either free or servile, but they all had rights in law. After the Edict of Milan in 313, these included the freedom of religion. Roman legal doctrine was lost during the Middle Ages, but claims of rights could still be made based on religious doctrine. According to the leaders of Ketts Rebellion, all men may be made free. In the 17th century, English common law judge Sir Edward Coke revived the idea of rights based on citizenship by arguing that Englishmen had historically enjoyed such rights, the Parliament of England adopted the English Bill of Rights in 1689. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, by George Mason and James Madison, was adopted in 1776, the Virginia declaration is the direct ancestor and model for the U. S. Bill of Rights. The removal by legislation of a civil right constitutes a civil disability, in early 19th century Britain, the phrase civil rights most commonly referred to the issue of such legal discrimination against Catholics. In the House of Commons support for civil rights was divided, the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 restored their civil rights. In the 1860s, Americans adapted this usage to newly freed blacks, congress enacted civil rights acts in 1866,1871,1875,1957,1960,1964,1968, and 1991. Marshall notes that civil rights were among the first to be recognized and codified, followed later by political rights, in many countries, they are constitutional rights and are included in a bill of rights or similar document. They are also defined in human rights instruments, such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Civil and political rights need not be codified to be protected, although most democracies worldwide do have formal written guarantees of civil, Civil rights are considered to be natural rights. Thomas Jefferson wrote in his A Summary View of the Rights of British America that a free people their rights as derived from the laws of nature, the question of to whom civil and political rights apply is a subject of controversy. According to political scientist Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr. Custom also plays a role, the United States Declaration of Independence states that people have unalienable rights including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. It is considered by some that the purpose of government is the protection of life. Ideas of self-ownership and cognitive liberty affirm rights to choose the food one eats, the one takes
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European Economic Community
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The European Economic Community was a regional organisation which aimed to bring about economic integration among its member states. It was created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957, upon the formation of the European Union in 1993, the EEC was incorporated and renamed as the European Community. In 2009 the ECs institutions were absorbed into the EUs wider framework and it gained a common set of institutions along with the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community as one of the European Communities under the 1965 Merger Treaty. In 1993, a single market was achieved, known as the internal market, which allowed for the free movement of goods, capital, services. In 1994, the market was formalised by the EEA agreement. This agreement also extended the market to include most of the member states of the European Free Trade Association. Upon the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 and this was also when the three European Communities, including the EC, were collectively made to constitute the first of the three pillars of the European Union, which the treaty also founded. The EEC was also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking countries and sometimes referred to as the European Community even before it was renamed as such in 1993. In 1951, the Treaty of Paris was signed, creating the European Coal and this was an international community based on supranationalism and international law, designed to help the economy of Europe and prevent future war by integrating its members. In the aim of creating a federal Europe two further communities were proposed, a European Defence Community and a European Political Community. While the treaty for the latter was being drawn up by the Common Assembly, the ECSC parliamentary chamber, after the Messina Conference in 1955, Paul Henri Spaak was given the task to prepare a report on the idea of a customs union. The so-called Spaak Report of the Spaak Committee formed the cornerstone of the negotiations at Val Duchesse castle in 1956. Together with the Ohlin Report the Spaak Report would provide the basis for the Treaty of Rome, in 1956, Paul Henri Spaak led the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the Val Duchesse castle, which prepared for the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The conference led to the signature, on 25 March 1957, the resulting communities were the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. These were markedly less supranational than the communities, due to protests from some countries that their sovereignty was being infringed. The first formal meeting of the Hallstein Commission, was held on 16 January 1958 at the Chateau de Val-Duchesse, the EEC was to create a customs union while Euratom would promote co-operation in the nuclear power sphere. The EEC rapidly became the most important of these and expanded its activities, one of the first important accomplishments of the EEC was the establishment of common price levels for agricultural products. In 1968, internal tariffs were removed on certain products, another crisis was triggered in regard to proposals for the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy, which came into force in 1962
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Council of the European Union
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The Council of the European Union is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union as listed in the Treaty on European Union. It is part of the essentially bicameral EU legislature and represents the governments of the EUs member states. It is based in the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, Belgium, the Council meets in 10 different configurations of 28 national ministers. The continuity between presidencies is provided by an arrangement under which three successive presidencies, known as Presidency trios, share common political programmes, the Foreign Affairs Council is however chaired by the Unions High Representative. Its decisions are made by qualified majority voting in most areas, usually where it operates unanimously, it only needs to consult the Parliament. In a few limited areas the Council may initiate new EU law itself, the Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. The Secretariat is divided into seven directorates-general, each administered by a director-general, the Council first appeared in the European Coal and Steel Community as the Special Council of Ministers, set up to counterbalance the High Authority. The original Council had limited powers, issues relating only to coal and steel were in the Authoritys domain, as a whole, the Council only scrutinised the High Authority. In 1957, the Treaties of Rome established two new communities, and with two new Councils, the Council of the European Atomic Energy Community and the Council of the European Economic Community. However, due to objections over the power of the Authority, their Councils had more powers. In 1965 the Council was hit by the empty chair crisis, due to disagreements between French President Charles de Gaulle and the Commissions agriculture proposals, among other things, France boycotted all meetings of the Council. This halted the Councils work until the impasse was resolved the following year by the Luxembourg compromise, although initiated by a gamble of the President of the Commission, Walter Hallstein, who later on lost the Presidency, the crisis exposed flaws in the Councils workings. In 1993, the Council adopted the name Council of the European Union and that treaty strengthened the Council, with the addition of more intergovernmental elements in the three pillars system. However, at the time the Parliament and Commission had been strengthened inside the Community pillar. The Treaty of Lisbon abolished the system and gave further powers to Parliament. It also merged the Councils High Representative with the Commissions foreign policy head, the development of the Council has been characterised by the rise in power of the Parliament, with which the Council has had to share its legislative powers. The Parliament has often provided opposition to the Councils wishes and this has in some cases led to clashes between both bodies with the Councils system of intergovernmentalism contradicting the developing parliamentary system and supranational principles. The primary purpose of the Council is to act as one of the two chambers of the EUs legislative branch, the chamber being the European Parliament
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Council of Europe
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The Council of Europe is an international organisation focused on protecting human rights, democracy, rule of law in Europe and promoting European culture. Founded in 1949, it has 47 member states, covers approximately 820 million people, No country has ever joined the EU without first belonging to the Council of Europe. Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe cannot make binding laws, the best known body of the Council of Europe is the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights. The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote awareness of, the Secretary General heads the secretariat of the organisation. Other major CoE bodies include the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines, the headquarters of the Council of Europe are in Strasbourg, France. English and French are its two official languages, the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress also use German, Italian, Russian, and Turkish for some of their work. In a speech at the University of Zurich on 19 September 1946, Sir Winston Churchill called for a kind of United States of Europe and he had spoken of a Council of Europe as early as 1943 in a radio broadcast. There were two schools of thought competing, some favoured a classical international organisation with representatives of governments, both approaches were finally combined through the creation of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly under the Statute of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by the Treaty of London and those conventions and decisions are developed by the member states working together at the Council of Europe. Both organizations function as concentric circles around the foundations for European co-operation and harmony. The European Union could be seen as the circle with a much higher level of integration through the transfer of powers from the national to the EU level. The Council of Europe and the European Union, different roles, Council of Europe conventions/treaties are also open for signature to non-member states, thus facilitating equal co-operation with countries outside Europe. The Convention created the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the Court supervises compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights and thus functions as the highest European court. It is to court that Europeans can bring cases if they believe that a member country has violated their fundamental rights. The various activities and achievements of the Council of Europe can be found in detail on its official website, Promotion of the right to education under Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and several conventions on the recognition of university studies and diplomas. Promotion of fair sport through the Anti-Doping Convention Promotion of European youth exchanges and co-operation through European Youth Centres in Strasbourg and Budapest, Promotion of the quality of medicines throughout Europe by the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and its European Pharmacopoeia. The institutions of the Council of Europe are, The Secretary General, mr Thorbjørn Jagland, the former Prime Minister of Norway was elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe in September 2009. In June 2014, he was re-elected, and his term in office commenced on 1 October 2014
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Insurance
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Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss. It is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, an entity which provides insurance is known as an insurer, insurance company, or insurance carrier. A person or entity who buys insurance is known as an insured or policyholder, the insured receives a contract, called the insurance policy, which details the conditions and circumstances under which the insured will be financially compensated. The amount of money charged by the insurer to the insured for the coverage set forth in the policy is called the premium. If the insured experiences a loss which is covered by the insurance policy. Methods for transferring or distributing risk were practiced by Chinese and Babylonian traders as long ago as the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessels capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c.1750 BC, and practiced by early Mediterranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen. At some point in the 1st millennium BC, the inhabitants of Rhodes created the general average and this allowed groups of merchants to pay to insure their goods being shipped together. The collected premiums would be used to any merchant whose goods were jettisoned during transport. Separate insurance contracts were invented in Genoa in the 14th century, the first known insurance contract dates from Genoa in 1347, and in the next century maritime insurance developed widely and premiums were intuitively varied with risks. These new insurance contracts allowed insurance to be separated from investment, Insurance became far more sophisticated in Enlightenment era Europe, and specialized varieties developed. Property insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London, initially,5,000 homes were insured by his Insurance Office. At the same time, the first insurance schemes for the underwriting of business ventures became available, by the end of the seventeenth century, Londons growing importance as a center for trade was increasing demand for marine insurance. These informal beginnings led to the establishment of the insurance market Lloyds of London and several related shipping, the first life insurance policies were taken out in the early 18th century. The first company to offer life insurance was the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, founded in London in 1706 by William Talbot, edward Rowe Mores established the Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorship in 1762. In the late 19th century, accident insurance began to become available and this operated much like modern disability insurance. The first company to offer accident insurance was the Railway Passengers Assurance Company, by the late 19th century, governments began to initiate national insurance programs against sickness and old age
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