A feeble embrace: Romania's engagement with democracy, 1989-94

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics

Volumn 12, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 145-172

  Gallagher, Tom ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEMOCRATISATION; POLITICAL REFORM; POLITICAL SYSTEM; POST-COMMUNISM; REFORM LIMITATION;

ROMANIA;

EID: 0030436079     PISSN: 13523279     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13523279608415307     Document Type: Review

References (83)

1. Ion Iliescu was elected president with nearly 86 per cent of the vote and the NSF won over 66.3 per cent of the votes cast on an 86.2 per cent turnout.
2. Since the Revolution: Human Rights in Romania (New York: Helsinki Watch, 1991). pp.59-60.
3. The Independent (London), 21 June 1990.
4. Martin Rady, Romania After Tyranny (London: I.B. Tauris, 1992). p.115. A book published outside Romania which defends the NSF's explanation of events at this critical period is George Galloway, MP, and Bob Wylie, Downfall: The Ceauşescu and the Romanian Revolution (London: Futura, 1991).
5. Martin Rady, Romania After Tyranny (London: I.B. Tauris, 1992). p.115. A book published outside Romania which defends the NSF's explanation of events at this critical period is George Galloway, MP, and Bob Wylie, Downfall: The Ceauşescu and the Romanian Revolution (London: Futura, 1991).
6. Nestor Rates, Romania: The Entangled Revolution (New York: Praeger, 1991), makes a valiant effort to explain this and other 'mysteries' of the 1989 revolution.
7. This view was associated with Sylviu Brucan, a political scientist and member of the NSF's ruling circle until 4 February 1990: see Matei Calinescu and Vladimir Tismaneanu, 'The 1989 Revolution and Romania's Future', in Daniel N. Nelson (ed.), Romania After Tyranny (London and San Francisco, CA: Westview, 1992). p.23.
8. A good account of the thoroughness of the social upheaval is D. Chirot, 'Social Change in Communist Romania', Social Forces, Vol.57, No.2. (1978).
9. Alina Mungiu, 'De ce am pierdut alegerile semnale', Sfera Politicǎ (Bucharest), No.1, Dec. 1992, p.11.
10. See Mark Almond, 'Romania Since the Revolution', Government and Opposition, Vol.25, No.4 (1990), pp.492-4; and Tom Gallagher, 'Romania: The Disputed Election of 1990', Parliamentary Affairs, Vol.44, No.1 (1991), pp.87-8.
11. See Mark Almond, 'Romania Since the Revolution', Government and Opposition, Vol.25, No.4 (1990), pp.492-4; and Tom Gallagher, 'Romania: The Disputed Election of 1990', Parliamentary Affairs, Vol.44, No.1 (1991), pp.87-8.
12. The process is described in Tom Gallagher, 'Ultra-Nationalists Take Charge of Transylvania's Capital', RFE-RL Research Report, Vol.1, No. 13 (27 March 1992), pp.25-6.
13. România libera (Bucharest), 26 Nov. 1991.
14. See Alina Mungiu and Andrei Pippidi, 'Letter from Romania', Government and Opposition, Vol.29, No.3 (1994), p.355.
15. Ibid., p.360. According to Rompres (the official Romanian news agency) in a report on 3 July 1992, Iliescu delivered a speech in Moldavia bemoaning the break-up of co-operative farms.
16. Romania, Albania and Bulgaria: Quarterly Report, 3rd Quarter of 1994 (London: Economist Intelligence Unit, 1994), pp. 19-20.
17. The incident was highlighted by Pro-Democracy, a civic body monitoring the conduct of the 1992 local elections in Romania that had been given formal observer status by the country's National Electoral Commission: see Gallagher, 'Ultra-Nationalists ...', pp.27-8.
18. Zig Zag (Bucharest), No 5, Feb. 1992.
19. See Tom Gallagher, Romania After Ceauşescu: The Politics of Intolerance (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995), Ch.5.
20. 22 (Bucharest), 23 Feb. 1994.
21. Ibid., 1 Dec. 1993.
22. Gabriel Topor, 'The National Salvation Front in a Crisis', RFE-RL Report on Eastern Europe, Vol.2, No.33 (16 Aug. 1991), p.27.
23. Mihai Sturdza, 'The Files of the State Security Police', RFE-RL Report on Eastern Europe, Vol.2, No.37 (13 Sept. 1991), p.29.
24. One article which argues that 'the essence of political evolution in Romania since 1989 has been the same as in other former communist countries of East-Central Europe' and that the adoption of the new Constitution has been one of 'the two most important moments of the pluralization process' is Liliana Mihut, 'The Emergence of Political Pluralism in Romania', Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Vol.27, No.4 ( 1994), p.411. The author makes such a reassuring claim by dwelling on formal structures while a different evaluation is made here from examining the uses to which they have been put.
25. Michael Shafir, '"War of the Roses" in Romania's National Salvation Front', RFE-RL Research Report, Vol.1, No.3 (24 Jan. 1992).
26. NU (Cluj), 2 Dec. 1991.
27. Romania, Bulgaria, Albania: Quarterly Report, 4th Quarter of 1993 (London: Economist Intelligence Unit, 1993), p.20.
28. Ibid.
29. For more details, see Gallagher, Romania After Ceauşescu, Ch.4.
30. Jonathan Eyal in The Independent, 14 Oct. 1992.
31. Sfera Politicǎ, No.10(Oct. 1993), p.8.
32. See Tom Gallagher, 'Electoral Breakthrough for Romanian Nationalists', RFE-RL Research Report, Vol.1, No.45 (13 Nov. 1992), p. 15.
33. See Michael Shafir, 'Transylvanian Shadows, Transylvanian Light', RFE-RL Research Report, Vol.1, No.26 (26 June 1992).
34. Favourable assesments of Ceauşescu by Funar were given in interviews carried by the following Romanian newspapers. 22, 24 April 1992; NU, 22 July 1992 and Baricada (Bucharest), 13 July 1992.
35. See 22, 16 Feb. 1994.
36. Details in GM Sǎptimâna Transilvan (Tirgu Mures), 10 May 1993.
37. 22, 14 Jan. 1993.
38. Tinerama, 20 Dec. 1994.
39. Cuvîntul (Bucharest), 2 Feb. 1992; and Michael Shafir, 'Marshal Ion Antonescu and Romanian Politics', RFE-RL Research Report, Vol.3, No.6 (11 Feb. 1994), p.22.
40. Cuvîntul (Bucharest), 2 Feb. 1992; and Michael Shafir, 'Marshal Ion Antonescu and Romanian Politics', RFE-RL Research Report, Vol.3, No.6 (11 Feb. 1994), p.22.
41. 22, 21 Jan. 1993.
42. Ibid., 5 Jan. 1994.
43. The process and its effects are described in George Schöpflin, 'Culture and Identity in Eastern Europe', in Stephen White, Judy Bait and Paul G. Lewis (eds.), Developments in East European Politics (London: Macmillan, 1992), p. 137.
44. Mungiu and Pippidi, 'Letter From Romania', p.357.
45. 22, 26 Oct. 1994.
46. 22, the weekly newspaper of the Bucharest-based Group For Social Dialogue, published Deputy Suian's proposals in its edition of 10 November 1993 under the title 'The Road to Dictatorship'. For the past five years, newspapers independent of the government have been complaining about acute difficulties in obtaining paper from the sole paper distributor in Romania (which is state-controlled: see Index On Censorship, Dec 1994).
47. Gabriel Adamasteanu, writing in 22, 5 Jan. 1994.
48. România mare (Bucharest), 25 Oct. 1991.
49. Radu Calin Cristea, Sfera Politicǎ, No.23, Dec. 1994.
50. România mare, 6 Nov. 1992.
51. Ibid., 4 Sept. 1992.
52. Shafir, 'Marshal Ion Antonescu ...', pp.26-7.
53. For the anti-Semitic outburst by Tudor, see ARPRESS, Selective Daily Bulletin (Bucharest: issued by the newspaper România liberǎ), No.688 (14 June 1993);
54. for the physical attack on the deputy, see ibid., No.674 (28 May 1993).
55. Michael Shafir, 'Romania: The Rechristening of the National Salvation Front', RFE-RL Research Report, Vol.2, No.27 (2 July 1993), p.27.
56. The campaign was waged through the pages of România mare in January-February 1994.
57. The Spiroiu affair is examined in Dan Ionescu and Michael Shafir, 'Romanian Government Reorganized', RFE-RL Research Report, Vol.3, No.13 (1 April 1994), pp.14, 16.
58. Ioan Mircea Pascu, 'Romania and the Yugoslav Conflict', in Charles L. Barry (ed.), The Search For Peace in Europe: Perspectives From NATO and Eastern Europe (Fort Lesley J. McNair, USA: National Defense University Press, 1994), pp.233, 236, 239.
59. Romanian radio, 5 April 1994, in BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, EE/1965 B/3, 7 April 1994.
60. Chris Stephen, 'Letter from Romania', New Statesman and Society, 21 Oct. 1994, revealed how blatantly sanctions were being disregarded.
61. 22, 27 April 1994.
62. For more details see Romania, Bulgaria and Albania, Quarterly Reports: 4th Quarter of 1993, pp.12-13.
63. România liberǎ, 23 Aug. 1994.
64. Adrian Severin, who created the machinery for Romania's privatization effort while a minister in 1990-91, publicly made this charge: see 22, 31 Aug. 1994.
65. 22, 14 Dec. 1994.
66. Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Quarterly Report Fourth Quarter of 1994 (London: Economist Intelligence Unit, 1994), p. 19.
67. Interview with Richard Schifter, 22, 9 Nov. 1994.
68. Ibid.
69. Ibid., 28 Sept. 1994.
70. Ibid., 26 Oct. 1994.
71. România liberǎ, 7 Jan. 1995. Larry L. Watts, a US political scientist, drawing on Romanian experience, echoes the ambassador, arguing that 'weak majority governments have been forced to form alliances with ... highly nationalistic parties', while here 1 argue that Iliescu had far more room to manoeuvre and had actually empowered these self-same forces on earlier occasions. See Larry L. Watts, 'Ethnic Tensions: How the West Can Help', World Policy Journal, Vol.12, No.1 (1995), p.93.
72. România liberǎ, 7 Jan. 1995. Larry L. Watts, a US political scientist, drawing on Romanian experience, echoes the ambassador, arguing that 'weak majority governments have been forced to form alliances with ... highly nationalistic parties', while here 1 argue that Iliescu had far more room to manoeuvre and had actually empowered these self-same forces on earlier occasions. See Larry L. Watts, 'Ethnic Tensions: How the West Can Help', World Policy Journal, Vol.12, No.1 (1995), p.93.
73. 22, 7 Dec. 1994.
74. 22,9 Nov. 1994.
75. România liberǎ, 12 Dec. 1994.
76. Gabriel Andreescu, writing in 22, 30 Nov. 1994.
77. 22, 14 Dec. 1994.
78. Rompres news agency, 20 Jan. 1995, BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, EE/2209 B/3 24 Jan. 1995.
79. For details see Dan Ionescu, 'The Crans Montana Forum Conference in Bucharest', RFE-RL Research Report, Vol.3, No.20 (20 May 1994), pp 37-8.
80. See the Romania, Bulgaria and Albania, Quarterly Reports, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit in London for 1993-94, some of which have been cited above in this article
81. An editorial in the Guardian, 3 July 1993, described Romania as 'a basket case', its economy having contracted for five years in succession (including 15 per cent falls in production in 1991 and 1992). 'At this rate', the paper commented, 'the economy will soon disappear in a puff of smoke'.
82. The way that top officials in the old regime have used their connections to become economic magnates is well described by Julian Strauss, 'Letter From Bucharest: Mammon's ends justify the means', The European, 28 April 1995.
83. Romanian radio, Bucharest, 29 July 1994, quoted in BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, EE2063 B/3, 2 Aug. 1994.