Lukashenko's Default
- 19.10.2026, 9:28
The system is unable to perform its normal functions.
After 2020, Belarus experienced a a breakdown of state functions, writes political commentator Valery Karbalevich for Radio Svaboda:
— This means that government agencies have, to a certain extent, ceased to fulfill their duties and basic functions.
For example, the legal system and institutions of justice have been completely destroyed, without which the existence of a fully-fledged modern state is impossible. When it comes to opponents of the regime, laws and justice have ceased to apply.
The country’s foreign policy has severely deteriorated; it is losing its status as an independent actor on the international stage because it has become heavily dependent on Russia. The current regime provokes artificial conflicts with its neighbors, distances itself from European organizations (the Council of Europe, the Eastern Partnership), but integrates into Asian structures (SCO, Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia) and non-European associations (BRICS, Non-Aligned Movement). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has evolved into something resembling a Ministry of Propaganda.
Dysfunction is evident in the economic sphere. Lukashenko has been trying to rescue the Vitebsk region—primarily its agriculture—for two years now, and he himself admits that he cannot cope. It would seem there is a simple solution: distribute the land to farmers and landowners—not by leasing it as a compulsory burden, but by transferring or selling it into private ownership. But no, the state does not want to let go of the land, yet it is unable to manage it effectively.
The regime is refusing to fulfill its border protection duties, writes Valery Karbalevich:
— As a result, foreign citizens (illegal migrants) have been storming the borders of Belarus’s neighboring countries—members of the European Union—for years.
One could go on at length about how Alexander Lukashenko’s regime is incapable of performing the basic functions that any state is expected to fulfill. However, it turns out that in some areas, the state is lacking—it fails to meet its responsibilities—while in others, on the contrary, it is overly involved.
For example, its punitive functions have grown to incredible proportions. Moreover, the state meddles where it should not—encroaching on people’s private lives, their worldviews, and their spiritual lives.
Such imbalances in the authorities’ activities stem from the fact that they do not prioritize the country’s development or the areas where they should be serving society; rather, they are primarily concerned with neutralizing threats to their own power. The result is a strange kind of Leviathan—one that is deeply disharmonious, lacking in identity, yet threatening to its own citizens.