Editorial foreword

The Belarusian Yearbook is a long-term joint project of the expert community of Belarus. This publication is an annually prepared integral analysis of the state of affairs in essential spheres of state and society. The first issue appeared in 2003, since 2008 it is compiled under the aegis of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies and Nashe Mnenie web-site.

In the issue on 2010 we stated that the forerun to the presidential campaign moulded all spheres of social and political life and its finale – the brutal dispersion of the rally in the Independence Square – told on all aspects of life (including the "politically neutral" sports, pop-culture, etc). The year 2011 followed the "inertia" of the post-electoral frame. The two terms to describe it succinctly are "isolation" and "crisis". Below are the key trends of the year 2011:

• "Narrowing of the state", a tendency that took a definite shape in 2010. Its essence: the decision-making authority is concentrating in hands of a gradually narrowing group of people who bear no responsibility for implementing their decisions;
• Institutional transformation: the increasing crisis of state power on the level of the "first" government, the National Bank and the Presidential Administration is the background of the emerging "second" government – the enforcement bodies;
• The general crisis of the public policy: the ruling class is incapable of proposing a reformation program;
• The crisis of confidence in its broadest sense;
• The authorities are violently arresting any form of protest and broader – of political activism;
• The political isolation of Belarus is increasing along the growing dependence on its sole economic and political creditor – Russia;
• The financial crisis, a kind of painful cure for the accumulated macroeconomic disproportion, was terminated (visibly) by means of automatic corrections;
• An active borrower, Belarus rounded off the year with vague prospects for both repaying credits and procuring new ones.

Contributing to this Yearbook were independent analysts and experts, as well as specialists representing various think tanks, including the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS), the Institute for Political Studies Palitycnaja Sfiera (Political Sphere)”, the Research Center of the Institute for Privatization and Management, the Agency of Humanitarian Technologies – Centre for Social Innovation, NOVAK Axiometrical Research Laboratory, the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS), the Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center (BEROC), the Centre for Eastern Studies (Warsaw, Poland), the Polesski Fund of International and Regional Studies (Chernihiv, Ukraine), eBelarus Research Center.

As a joint effort, the Yearbook is designed to promote public discussions about current transformations in Belarus and development options for the country, and facilitate the work of state functionaries, business managers, members of the diplomatic corps, journalists, politicians and community leaders.