The Belarusian Diaspora in Poland as a Political Actor (2020–2025)

dc.abstract.en	This thesis examines how the Belarusian diaspora acts as a political actor in Poland in the period from 2020 to 2025. After the political crisis in Belarus in August 2020 and the beginning of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, Poland became one of the main destinations of Belarusian emigration and one of the main organizational centres of Belarusian diaspora life in Europe. Despite the large flow of migration, no analysis has been conducted on how the politically mobilized diaspora interacts with the institutions and society of the host country. The main research question of the work is what mechanisms the diaspora uses to interact with the host state and its society, what outcomes this interaction produces, and what factors determine its effectiveness. The theoretical framework combines transnationalism, which describes the diaspora as a community operating in a social field across state borders, and constructivism, which explains how the diaspora constructs and maintains its status as a political actor in the absence of state support. The external representation of the diaspora is concentrated around the figure of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, which makes her a key symbolic figure of the entire diaspora. Methodologically, the work is structured as a single case study based on qualitative analysis of Polish legislation, publications of diaspora organizations, research centre reports, Polish sociological surveys and statistics. The analysis shows that the Belarusian diaspora in Poland has become a transnational political actor with high institutional visibility and international recognition. It acts through the channels of access and managed to obtain it at all levels of Polish authority, and the initiative behind the main support programmes lies with the Polish side.
dc.affiliation	Uniwersytet Warszawski
dc.affiliation.department	Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Studiów Międzynarodowych
dc.contributor.author	Chekanova, Kseniya
dc.contributor.promoter	Heidrich, Dorota
dc.contributor.reviewer	Nakonieczna-Bartosiewicz, Justyna
dc.contributor.reviewer	Heidrich, Dorota
dc.date.defence	2026-07-22
dc.date.issued	2026
dc.date.submitted	2026-07-13
dc.identifier.apd	250117
dc.language	en
dc.language.other	pl
dc.publisher	Uniwersytet Warszawski
dc.rights	ClosedAccess
dc.subject.en	Belarusian Diaspora
dc.subject.en	Poland
dc.subject.en	Transnational Actor
dc.subject.en	Stateless Power
dc.subject.en	Non-State Actors
dc.subject.en	Public Diplomacy
dc.subject.en	Emigration.
dc.title	The Belarusian Diaspora in Poland as a Political Actor (2020–2025)
dc.title.alternative	Białoruska Diaspora w Polsce jako Aktor Polityczny (2020 – 2025)
dc.type	BachelorThesis