The tismaneanu report: Romania revisits its past

Problems of Post-Communism

Volumn 54, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 60-69

  Tanasoiu, Cosmina ^a  

^a AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN BULGARIA   (Bulgaria)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 35348828779     PISSN: 10758216     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2753/PPC1075-8216540405     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. For an overview of Romanian communism, see Vladimir Tismaneanu, Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).
2. For an analysis of the 1989 revolution,see Stelian Tanase, Revolutia ca esec: Elite si societate (Revolution as Failure: Elites and Society) (Iasi: Polirom, 1996).
3. See also Anneli Ute Gabanyi, "Romania's Unfinished Revolution," East European Studies Occasional Paper No. 33 (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 1991 );
4. Peter Siani-Davies, The Romanian Revolution of December 1989 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005).
5. For features of Romanian early post-communism, see, for example, Vladimir Tismaneanu, "The Quasi-Revolution and Its Discontents: Emerging Political Pluralism in Post-Ceaujescu Romania," East European Politics and Society 7, no. 2 (spring 1993): 309-49;
6. Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, "Letter from Romania," Government and Opposition 29, no. 3 (summer 1994): 355.
7. For an overview of Romanian post-communism, see also Tom Gallagher, Theft of a Nation: Romania Since Communism (London: Hurst, 2005).
8. See Cosmina Tanasoiu, "Intellectuals and Post-Communist Politics in Romania: An Analysis of Public Discourse, 1990-2000," East European Politics and Society (in press).
9. See, for example, Sorina Soare, Les parties politiques roumains après 1989 (Political Parties in Romania After 1989) (Brussels: Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2004)
10. For an in-depth analysis of the Securitate, see Dennis Deletant, Ceausescu and the Securitate: Coercion and Dissent in Romania, 1965-1989 (London: Hurst, 1995).
11. See, for example, Horia-Roman Patapievici, "Din nou despre moştenirea fostei Securitǎţi" (Again About the Heritage of the former Securitate), 22 (September 8-14, 1998);
12. idem, "Securitatea - o amenizare la adresa securitǎţii naţionalǎ" (Securitatea - Threat to National Security), 22 (June 6-12, 2000);
13. Gabriela Adameşteanu, "Securistul şi vrabia abulicǎ" (The Securitate Man and the Little Bird), in Gabriela Adameşteanu, Cele douǎ Românii (Iasi: Institutul European, 2000), pp. 103-24;
14. also published in 22, no. 19 (1992), no. 38 (1999), and no. 42 (1999).
15. According to some observers, it would have been impossible for anyone without links to the Securitate to lead a successful political career between 1990 and 1996. See, for example,Vladimir Tismaneanu and Mircea Mihaies, Incet, spre Europa (Slowly, Toward Europe) (Bucharest: Polirom, 2000), p. 73.
16. Cotidianul (April 7,2006), www.cotidianul.ro/index.php?id= 4760& art=11372&cHash=3dd45477c0/.
17. For the full report, membership of the commission, and experts, see www.presidency.ro/?_RID=htm&id=82/.
18. Thus it follows Vaclav Havel's theory. See his The Power of the Powerless (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1985).
19. Ruxandra Cesereanu, interview in Observatorul cultural (December 21, 2006), www.observatorcultural.ro/informatiiarticol.phtml?xid= 16889/.
20. In response to criticisms for not naming the heads of the foreign service of the secret police among those responsbile, the president stated that his speech was not meant to be a summary of the report but a document in its own right. See www.bbc.co.uk/romanian/news/story/2006/12/061219_ interviu_basescu.shtml.
21. For the full text of the speech, see www.presidency.ro/?_ RID=htm&id=82.
22. Adevarul (December 20,2006), www.adevarul.ro/2006-12-20/Politic/ condamnarea-comunismuliui-un-pas-spre-civilizatie_211203.html.
23. Cotidianul (December 19, 2006), www.cotidianul.ro/index.php?id= 8465&art=22033&cHash=891bb09f40/.
24. The report was criticized for omitting the military anti-communist resistance in the mountains, not explaining the full extent and importance of the Soviet presence, not giving enough attention to the supra-national, anti-national, anti-Christian, and anti-humanist aspects of the regime, minimizing the repression of the Orthodox Church, and minimizing the suffering of the inhabitants of the Soviet Republic of Moldova after 1945 for their "Gorbatchiovist" sentiments.
25. Tismaneanu's family connections to the Party (his father was a former ranking Party official, but his name is actually mentioned in the report) and his alleged expressed sympathies for Party policies were used to discredit him. See Jurnalul National (December 19, 2006), www.jurnalul.ro/articol.php? id=68723/.
26. Ziua (December 22, 2006), www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2006-12-22&id= 213273/.
27. For a full coverage of the parliamentary session, see the reports in Ziua, Cotidianul, and Romania Libera, December 19, 2006.
28. Rompress declaration, quoted in Ziua, December 16, 2006 (Anca Hriban and Victor Roncea "Fusereala" [String-pulling]), www.ziua.ro/display. php?data=2006-12-16&id=212948/.
29. Liviu Antonesei, "Nu Vadim, Geoana e problema" (Not Vadim, Geoana Is the Problem), Cotidianul (December 22,2006), http://n.cotidianul.ro/index.php?id=8508&art=22108&diraut=74&cHash= 619766ee72/.
30. www.hotnews.ro/articol_62112-Basescu-"Condamn-explicit-sicategoric- sistemul-comunist-din-Romania".htm.
31. Realitatea, December 17, 2006, www.realitatea.net/31113_Raporul- Tismaneanu-este-contestat.html.
32. Rompress statement, quoted in Ziua, December 16, 2006.
33. Dan Pavel, "PSD, carcotasii si Raportul Tismaneanu" (PSD, the Critics and the Tismaneanu Report), Ziua (January 8, 2007), www.ziua.ro/display. php?data=2007-01-08&id=213793/.
34. Ana Blandiana, interview with Armand Goşu, 22 (February 2-8, 2007), www.revista22.ro/html/index.php?nr=2007-02-02&art=3429/.
35. Vladimir Tismǎneanu, interview with Rodica Palade, 22, December 22-29, 2006, www.revista22.ro/htm_index.php?nr=2006-12-22&art=3320.
36. See blog entries on the Web sites of Cotidianul, Romania Libera, and Ziua.
37. Doina Cornea, Ziua (December 19, 2006), www.ziua.ro/display. php?data=2006-12-19&id=213072/.
38. Ziua (December 19, 2006), www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2006-12- 19&id=213076/.
39. See, for example, Roman David, "From Prague to Baghdad: Lustration Systems and Their Political Effects," Government and Opposition 41, no. 3 (June 2006): 347-72.
40. See also Hilary Appel, "Anti-Communist Justice and Founding the Post-Communist Order: Lustration and Restitution in Central Europe" East European Politics and Society 19, no. 3 (summer 2005): 379-405;
41. Kieran Williams, Brigid Fowler, andAleks Szczerbiak, "Explaining Lustration in Central Europe: A 'Post-Communist Politics' Approach," Democratization 12, no. 1 (February, 2005): 22-43.
42. Ziua (February 22, 2007), www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2007- 0222&id=216328/.
43. Quoted in Cotidianul (January 23, 2007), www.cotidianul.ro/index. php?id=8923&art=23393&cHash=e0538ed25b/.