I. The history of Belarusian statehood -- From ethnos to a nation (Belarusians in the ninth to nineteenth centuries) -- Belarusian statehood in the twentieth century -- II. The place of Belarusians among civilizations -- Belarusian-Ukrainian/Western-Ruthenian civilization -- Belarusians and Ukrainians belong to western civilization -- III. Characteristics of the modern Belarusian nation -- The conditions for nation-building in Belarus in the late twentieth century -- General information about modern Belarus -- National identity and language -- The mentality of Belarusian society (Belarusianess) -- Church and nation -- IV. Belarus : in search of its own way -- Theoretical models of the Belarusian national state construction -- Under the "Patronage" of Russia -- "Belarus to Europe" -- Neutrality by form and content and Europeanism by spirit -- Belarusian elites and nation-building today -- The revolution of hope.