On September 27^th, 2013 a round table discussion “Belarusan Yearbook 2012: The Big Freeze” will take place duirng the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting.

The event is jointly organized by Solidarity with Belarus Information Office, Agency for Social and Political Expert Appraisal, “Nashe Mnenie” website, and German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Belarusan experts will present the main political and economic trends in Belarus identified in the Belarusan Yearbook 2012.

Key trends include: the ‘narrowing’ of the state — decisions taken by an ever-diminishing circle; a lack of technical, financial and human resources; growing economic and foreign policy dependence on Russia; a rise in pro-European moods and fewer efforts to integrate with Russia; reduced social obligations of the state, stagnation of electoral ratings and trust levels toward authorities; a crisis of state policy and inability to propose a vision for the future.

Round table panellists will include:

• Valeria Kostiugova, political analyst, head of the Agency for Social and Political Expert Appraisal, coordinator of the project “Nashe Mnenie”, compiled and edited the Belarusan Yearbook 2008-2012.

• Anatoly Pankovsky, PhD in philosophy, editor-in-chief of the project “Nashe Mnenie”, edited and compiled Belarusan Yearbook.

• Pavel Usov, Belarusan political analyst and political scientist, PhD candidate at the Polish Academy of Sciences.

• Andrei Yahorau, MA in political science. Director of the Center for European Transformation, co-founder and deputy editor-in-chief of the journal Palitychnaja Sfiera (Political Sphere).

The Belarusan Yearbook 2012 is the fourth edition of an annual multi-disciplinary analysis of trends in the Belarusan state and society. The Yearbook was published by the Agency for Social and Political Expert Appraisal, and supported by the German Marshall Fund of the United States.