{"id":142536,"date":"2025-06-13T15:29:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T12:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/142536\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T13:35:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:35:32","slug":"lukasenkas-endless-search-for-ideology-to-justify-his-rule","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/142536\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s endless search for ideology to justify his rule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, at a conference with officials on June 12, once again fantasized\u2014perhaps for the hundredth time\u2014about creating a state ideology. \u201cIf only we could elaborate a national idea to capture the hearts, souls and minds of people,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n Health workers discussing a draft Constitution at the Navapo\u0142ack Central City Hospital in January 2022\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (Navapo\u0142ack Central City Hospital) <\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Daydreaming<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian ruler fully understands that his government has failed to define the core of its state ideology or communicate it effectively to the public, despite publishing numerous textbooks and manuals on the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideology departments continue to organize meetings with students, soldiers, workers and members of the intelligentsia. Officials have even ordered private companies to conduct \u201cideological work\u201d with their employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April, \u0141uka\u0161enka signed Directive No. 12, \u201cOn the Implementation of the Basics of the Ideology of the Belarusian State,\u201d which outlines its supposed foundations. Still, he openly admits that the nation lacks a coherent ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, the Constitution adopted in 2022 declares that \u201cdemocracy in the Republic of Belarus is exercised based on the ideology of the Belarusian state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, the country has neither democracy nor a functioning ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideology officers control loyalty<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka has repeatedly made it clear that he is still searching for a national idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was offered a sea of ideas groomed as a state [ideology]. I rejected them all because they don\u2019t speak to the heart and soul,\u201d he told Russian anti-liberal politician Aleksandr Dugin in October 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am trying to come up with something myself. But I have concluded that it is impossible to formulate it until the time is right,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the absence of a national ideology, a vast army of ideological officials remains active\u2014targeting government critics and enforcing loyalty to the regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First attempt at ideological doctrine<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka first outlined his view on state ideology in March 2003 at a seminar for officials on how to improve \u201cideological work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result was a patchwork of contradictory ideas. He claimed that \u201cthe Marx-Lenin, conservative and liberal ideologies should be appropriate for us, to a various degree.\u201d Yet he added, \u201cthe current neoliberalism, in its pure form\u2026 is less appropriate for our people with their toleration and mentality; I would say absolutely inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While \u0141uka\u0161enka is nostalgic for Soviet times, he has not followed the Bolsheviks’ model of establishing a ruling party. Instead, he has concentrated all power in his own hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Communists at least had a comprehensive doctrine, however misguided. Directive 12, by contrast, is a vague mix of platitudes, wishful thinking and contradictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some provisions are nearly incomprehensible. One example reads:
\u201cThe political component of the ideology of the Belarusian state is based on the principle of continuity of phases of sociopolitical development of Belarusian society and the state.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for hypocrisy, the directive claims one of its goals is to \u201cmobilize society for the preservation of people\u2019s unity.\u201d Yet the government\u2019s sustained attacks on dissent have left the nation deeply divided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise of violence as ideology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In his younger years, \u0141uka\u0161enka was a charismatic populist who generated ideas that resonated with many. He won his first election promising to return Belarus to the \u201cbright Soviet past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the generation that idealized the Soviet era is disappearing. Today’s youth live in a different world\u2014and \u0141uka\u0161enka knows it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 2020, amid massive anti-government protests, he admitted:
\u201cI must admit honestly that we have lost not only mostly youth\u2014because we did not work with them, thinking that it would come from nothing\u2014we have lost touch with common people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2010s, his regime promoted the \u010darka da \u0161kvarka<\/strong> (a drink and a piece of fried pork) ideology, in which political freedoms were considered secondary to economic stability. This strategy worked for a time, buoyed by generous Russian subsidies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the unreformed economy eventually stumbled. \u0141uka\u0161enka failed to notice the rise of a large, capable class of citizens who no longer depended on state-assigned jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who protested election fraud in 2020 were mostly young, educated and entrepreneurial\u2014not desperate or impoverished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faced with this awakening, \u0141uka\u0161enka resorted to a new ideology\u2014one of violence and repression. This grim reality is, of course, absent from Directive 12 or the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dictator\u2019s desperate search for legitimacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ruler is aware that brute force alone cannot sustain him forever. That\u2019s why he keeps calling for enhanced ideological work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s looking for a national idea\u2014a glossy narrative\u2014to mask the true nature of his dictatorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pragmatic politician, he wants to control not only people\u2019s actions but also their minds. He wants to be genuinely admired and for his speeches to inspire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a man consumed by the need to cling to power\u2014and possibly preparing to pass that power to his son\u2014is unlikely to come up with a compelling national idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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