Aktuelles

18. November 2024, 18:00 Uhr, Vortrag: Dr. Anton Liavitski, University of St. Gallen

“Perestroika, Intelligentsia, and the Birth of Belarusian Populism, 1988–1997”

In cooperation with the Belarusian Institute of Public History, the Center for Belarus and Regional Studies at European Humanities University, Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe, and Universität Bremen, the Department of Public History at the FernUniversität in Hagen is organizing the Belarus Colloquium in the academic year 2024/2025. This Colloquium aims to create a platform for scholars focusing on Belarus to share and discuss their research.

Dr. Anton Liavitski, University of St. Gallen

“Perestroika, Intelligentsia, and the Birth of Belarusian Populism, 1988–1997”

Moderator of the discussion: Dr. Tatsiana Astrouskaya, Herder-Institut Marburg

In his book, Anton Liavitski examines the history of political thought in Belarus during the country’s transition from a perestroika-era ‘democracy by default’ to an authoritarian regime. Perestroika created a political forum where various social actors could debate and negotiate changes and reforms. In these debates, proponents of transformation sometimes drew upon established Soviet political ideas and cultural patterns. Reformers repurposed familiar categories (such as the ‘Soviet personality’) and infused them with ‘anti-Soviet’ or ‘liberal’ meanings. In this way, a political language emerged that blended Soviet ideas of self, agency, and history with neoclassical economic theory, emphasizing individualism, markets, and objective economic laws. This innovative language of Perestroika extended into new areas, adapting to shifting political and cultural circumstances, before ultimately dissolving into a conservative backlash embodied by Alexander Lukashenko. The history of this language—its origins, content, and contexts—is the focus of this book.

Short biography

Anton Liavitski is a historian and scholar specializing in the intellectual and political history of Belarus, with a particular focus on post-Soviet transitions and nationalism studies. He earned his PhD from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, where his doctoral research centered on the Belarusian intelligentsia and political debates during the perestroika era. From 2022 to 2024, he was a junior fellow at the Global Institute for Advanced Study at CEU Budapest, and he currently holds a Swiss government research fellowship at the University of St. Gallen. Liavitski has contributed to numerous academic journals and conferences, addressing topics such as cultural politics and the complexities of nation-building in post-1991 Belarus.

Date: 18 November

Time: 18.00 (CET)

Online - ZOOM ID: 643 6486 8767, code: 77659709: https://fernuni-hagen.zoom-x.de/j/64364868767?pwd=JPVcb8eYHrsSHmgeg1fcJ0IFuya4AU.1