During the millennium shift Belarus was a country in deep crisis. Both politically and economically. Since the impartial politician Alexander Lukashenka came to power the country has develped towards a Soviet-like plan economy and brutal dictatorship. Today Belarus is the only nation in Europe ruled by a dictator (except for Serbia perhaps).

In 1996 Lukashenka organized a referendum, on which a new constitution was to be voted for. The referendum was not approved by the world community due to cheating, but was still valid in Belarus. As the new constitution was installed, the president became the highest organ of power with a mandat period expanded to seven years. Now that Lukashenka had absolute power he dismissed country's democratically elected parlament and replaced it with an organ called Camber Of Representatives, members of which the president mostly had assigned himself.

Lukashenka shows himself as a brutal human rights violator and an enemy to liberal ideas and market economy. He denies all opposition, calling it criminal. During the recent years two famous oppositional polititians have misteriously vanished, one died at strange circumstances, one appeared in exile and one is doomed to three years of imprisonment for something the state claims to be a financial crime. Also a few free newspapers have been shot down and members of trade unions got fired from their state jobs due to their union engagement. Free media and the private buisiness sector has suffered in different ways. Partly by censouring and blackmail, partly by difficult tax conditions that make the competition with state media and buisness unfair.

Lukashenka's foreign policy is East-oriented, as the West denies his legitimicy. In recent years a treaty about a union with Russia was signed. This meant that Lukashenka offered away his country's souveregnity without even asking the people. Such behaviour can be explained by the fact that Russia is the only major state that supports the Belarusian regime and the 1996 referendum. Lukashenka'ss regime now runs 80% of mass media, filling it with propaganda against the democratic opposition and drawing a nasty picture of evil Nato, USA and EU who ame to distablize the Belarusian wealth and friendly relations with Russian Federation. The Belarusian wealth is lower than ever since the breakdown of the USSR, but the regime says it is the opposition and the west, who should carry the blame.