Nationalism in Post-Communist Romania

The dissolution of communism in Eastern and Central Europe conceived a tremendous paradigm shift in the political map of European nations. In Romania, nationalism is a remarkable concept which re-emerged following this dissolution, which continued to rally political support against the context of a challenging and long transition to democracy. Extreme right-wing party (The Greater Romania Party) attained special strength as the most conspicuous political power, and its coercive appeal rested on a reiteration of identity and nationalism, and other thematic concerns which Cinpoes articulates including originality, leadership, historical continuity, religion and morality; all which had been previously inscribed in the Romanian ideological domain by former nationalist formations. In this book, Cinpoes systematically and artfully examines the core rationales embedding the demonstrated resilience and strength by Romania’s nationalism, from the formation of the state (independence) to its accession in the European Union.

I t is eloquent, as it is clear that the title and subtitle which Cinpoes use to represent thematic issues to be discussed holds a huge promise of exploring the prospects and reasons underlying Romania’s strength and resilience of Romania’s nationalism right from independence to its accession in the EU. Romania stands out as a country striving through different political waves, but yet it is resilient and resolute along the way. As one reads through this work, he/she gets to comprehend the summary of how Romania developed her national ideas forty odd pages on the period beginning the 19th century to 1989 and twenty on the period 1989 to 2004, but while this presentation is substantial, it is not detailed and broader enough for a deep understanding of Romania’s whole history. Nonetheless, Cinpoes therein presents Romania as a country which in the last century experienced a plethora of political phenomena and dispensations including a constitutional monarchy, semi-autocratic regime, communist rule, before settling on the democratic rule up to the present day. It is these complicated historical phenomena making Romania a core country of interest in European space. Cinpoes’ idea of writing ascends from his historical experiences. Besides, an elaborative description of Cinpoes’ content on the book is extracted from where he writes that his approach is case study based, with special attention being “examining significant patterns in the discourse of the Romania Mare (Greater Romania) Party, the most representative nationalist formation in post-communist Romania” (pg. 20). By adhering to this extraction, the book achieves presenting successful and engaging insights.

Cinpoes intends to argue that Greater Romania Party is a representation of the country’s “continuity” (p. 21) from the medieval period and comes across ‘a long tradition of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes’ (p.86). This conviction could be founded on Cinpoes personal historical account and experiences but also from self-positioning towards nationalist actors. Cinpoes’ analysis of modern discourses is contextualized. While contextualizing modern Romanian nationalism on the basis of transitlogical paradigm, the author is keen to evade simplistic binary equations. For example, the author cautions the reader from equating nationalism with unavailability of democracy, suggesting that various liberal movements were as well founded on the threshold of nationalist discourse. In addition, the author is well-informed about that normative east-west frameworks (models) of nationalism especially those that had been subjected to different criticisms. Cinpoes, for instance make reference to Spencer and Woolman in favour and he would have cited in Hewitson and Baycroft’s 2006 revised edition What is Nation? which eloquently focuses on time-zones models proposed by Kohn and Gellner. Cinpoes observes the significance of tracing beyond nationalism analysis in isolation, and goes further tracing how nationalism was propagated and how the people receipted the concept of nationalism.

Consequent chapters are centred on Romania Mare Party and her leader Corneliu Vadim Todor (pg. 107 – 147). Besides, consequent chapter articulates, and to some good extent revolves around and on the 2004 elections which are attached to loss of appeal of nationalist ranks (pg.149 – 165) and Romania’s inclination and roadmap to the European Union. A crucial theme in this realm is religion which Cinpoes documents its role and the role of religious precepts especially behavioural customs and norms; and views of the “straight” and “upright” behaviour to the nationalists. Through critical a critical overview of Romania Mare’s supporters Cinpoes believes that a few of these supporters make special reference to religion since religion is taken for granted and therefore deserves no space for mentioning.

The critical analysis which Cinpoes conducts concerning the fortunes of Romania Mare Party following the 2004 elections is thrilling. Despite the party’s effort to induce a pro-European position (especially at odds with embedding elements of nationalist dogma) the party lost its core fame following this year. Post 2007, Romania Mare party’s leader Vadim Tudor made it to secure European MP and held a central and major control in European Right-wing discourses. Europe which was by then far away from nationalist movement redundant offered a threshold which Romania managed to replenish. Up to now, it is observable that these right-wing discourses are flourishing. Cinpoes in this book provides a robust and readable guiding framework to different political discourses and attitudes after the 1989 arena. In addition, Cinpoes keenly involves the reader of the book, subjecting him/her to a broader array of scholarly literature, rendering the book as one of the best productions.

In the end, it is observable how Cinpoes presents the interrelationship between Europe and Romania as a dichotomous association. Cinpoes’ work in the end becomes a crucial tool in deeply comprehending the effects of extreme nationalism in Romanian politics especially after the post-communist period. The author provides a complex but yet suitable theoretical model for analysing the Romanian nationalism in terms of the country’s modern dynamics and potency; and on its historical realm. This book is fundamental to not only researchers but also students of modern Romania and the world at large interested in understanding of historical concepts revolving around issues such as far Right, political transitions and nationalism. The book equally constitutes of insightful addition to existing literature on post-communist politics.

Reference

Cinpoes, R., 2010. Nationalism and identity in Romania: a history of extreme politics from the birth of the state to EU accession (Vol. 40). IB Tauris.