The Influence of Small States: Belarus's Foreign Policy and State Identity

In exploring the question of Belarus's influence on Russia and the EU by the non-material means of state identity, the research has developed the Composite State Identity as a theoretical framework to examine the dynamics of influence. It argues that congruence and engagement of state identity, conceptualised as a composite of three temporal components, which are related to the past, the future, and the present, vis-à-vis the Other, help understand the dynamics of influence of Belarus, a smaller state, vis-à-vis its larger neighbours, Russia and the EU. Specifically, the engagement of at least one component of state identity which is externally congruent with the Other positively contributes to the influence, which the Self is able to wield. The thesis seeks to show how Belarus constructed its state identity in the three decades after its independence vis-à-vis two external Others, Russia and the EU, and how the change in state identity constituted Belarus's influence, both successful and not.