Government and History
Under the constitution of 1996, Belarus is a parliamentary democracy. The legislative body is a two-house parliament, consisting of an upper house, the 64 member Council of the Republic, and a lower house, the 110 member House of Representatives. The head of state is the president who is popularly elected. The head of government is the prime minister, who is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
There are six provinces in Belarus, namely Brest, Homyel, Hrodna, Minsk, Mahilyow, and Vitsyebsk, each governed by a local provincial council. The president also appoints regional executives, who in their turn elect local executives to govern the regional and local councils.
The judicial system of Belarus includes the Constitutional Court, which is the highest court of Belarus, apart from the Supreme Court and the provincial, city, and district courts.
The Belarusian army is made up of about 95, 000 members, and all men above the age of 18 are required to serve 18 months.
The area of modern Belarus was settled by East Slavic peoples before 800 A.D. It was ruled by Kiev from the 9th to the 12th century, and thereafter splintered into separate principalities. Early in the 14th century, it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which merged with Poland in 1569. Late in the 18th century, Russia acquired the region through the three partitions of Poland—1773, 1793, and 1795.
The region was devastated by the Napoleonic invasion of 1812 and again in World War I. After the war, Poland and Russia fought for control of the region. By the Treaty of Riga, 1921, Poland acquired the western portion of the region while Russia retained the eastern portion.
In 1922 the eastern portion was made a union republic of the Soviet Union as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The entire region was occupied by Germany during most of World War II. After the war, the Polish portion of the region was incorporated into the Byelorussian S.S.R. As a concession by the Western Allies to secure Soviet cooperation in establishing the United Nations, the Byelorussian S.S.R., although part of the Soviet Union, was admitted to the organization as a charter member with a separate vote.
During 1990–91, rising nationalism throughout the union republics gradually eroded the authority of the Soviet central government. In 1991 the Byelorussian S.S.R. declared itself independent and changed its name to Republic of Belarus. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Belarus achieved independence. Also that year, Belarus joined the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 1992, in an international agreement, Belarus promised to relinquish its nuclear weapons. Belarus and Russia signed an agreement in 1996 that established close political and economic ties.
