What Does It Mean to Be a Kin Majority? Analyzing Romanian Identity in Moldova and Russian Identity in Crimea from Below
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European Influences in Moldova Page 2
Master Thesis Human Geography Name : Marieke van Seeters Specialization : Europe; Borders, Governance and Identities University : Radboud University, Nijmegen Supervisor : Dr. M.M.E.M. Rutten Date : March 2010, Nijmegen Marieke van Seeters European influences in Moldova Page 2 Summary The past decades the European continent faced several major changes. Geographical changes but also political, economical and social-cultural shifts. One of the most debated topics is the European Union and its impact on and outside the continent. This thesis is about the external influence of the EU, on one of the countries which borders the EU directly; Moldova. Before its independency from the Soviet Union in 1991, it never existed as a sovereign state. Moldova was one of the countries which were carved out of history by the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in 1940 as it became a Soviet State. The Soviet ideology was based on the creation of a separate Moldovan republic formed by an artificial Moldovan nation. Although the territory of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic was a former part of the Romanian province Bessarabia, the Soviets emphasized the unique and distinct culture of the Moldovans. To underline this uniqueness they changed the Moldovan writing from Latin to Cyrillic to make Moldovans more distinct from Romanians. When Moldova became independent in 1991, the country struggled with questions about its national identity, including its continued existence as a separate nation. In the 1990s some Moldovan politicians focussed on the option of reintegration in a Greater Romania. However this did not work out as expected, or at least hoped for, because the many years under Soviet rule and delinkage from Romania had changed Moldovan society deeply. -
Detachment Instead of Confrontation: Post-European Russia in Search of Self-Sufficiency
Detachment Instead of Confrontation: Post-European Russia in Search of Self-Sufficiency Alexei Miller, Fyodor Lukyanov The report was written by Alexei Miller, Professor at European University in St. Petersburg and Central European University in Budapest; Fyodor lukyAnov, Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs magazine and a Research Professor at the National Research University-Higher School of Economics. Alexei Miller, Fyodor Lukyanov Along with all the complexes of a superior nation, Russia has the great inferiority complex of a small country. Joseph Brodsky Less Than One, 1976 “Our eagle, the heritage of Byzantium, is a two-headed one. Of course, eagles with one head are strong and powerful as well, but if you cut off the head of our eagle which is turned to the East, you will not turn him into a one-headed eagle, you will only make him bleed.” Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, from the speech in the State Duma in support of the construction of the Amur Railway, 1908 This project originated in 2015 when intellectual interaction between Russia and the West was rapidly degrading to mutual accusations and verbal fights over “who is to blame” and “how much more Russia should suffer before it is ready to repent.” We sought to provide a forum for analysts and political practitioners from Russia, Europe, the United States, and China to con- duct a constructive dialogue and ultimately move from producing endless recriminations and claims to discussing the future of Russia’s role in international affairs. Naturally, this also meant discussing the future of the world as a whole. -
Moldova's National Minorities: Why Are They Euroskeptical?
Moldova’s National Minorities: Why are they Euroskeptical? Marcin Kosienkowski William Schreiber November 2014 Russia/NIS Center Ifri is a research center and a forum for debate on major international political and economic issues. Headed by Thierry de Montbrial since its founding in 1979, Ifri is a non-governmental and a non-profit organization. As an independent think tank, Ifri sets its own research agenda, publishing its findings regularly for a global audience. With offices in Paris and Brussels, Ifri stands out as one of the rare French think tanks to have positioned itself at the very heart of European debate. Using an interdisciplinary approach, Ifri brings together political and economic decision-makers, researchers and internationally renowned experts to animate its debates and research activities. The opinions expressed in this article are the authors’ alone and do not reflect the official views of their institutions. Russia/NIS Center © All rights reserved – Ifri – Paris, 2014 ISBN: 978-2-36567-330-3 IFRI IFRI-Bruxelles 27 RUE DE LA PROCESSION RUE MARIE-THERESE, 21 75740 PARIS CEDEX 15 – FRANCE 1000 BRUXELLES, BELGIQUE TEL. : 33 (0)1 40 61 60 00 TEL. : 32(2) 238 51 10 FAX : 33 (0)1 40 61 60 60 FAX : 32 (2) 238 51 15 E-MAIL : [email protected] E-MAIL : [email protected] WEBSITE : www.ifri.org Russie.Nei.Visions Russie.Nei.Visions is an online collection of articles dedicated to the study of Russia and other former Soviet states (Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan). Written by leading experts, these policy-oriented papers deal with strategic, political and economic issues. -
Moldova: Background and U.S. Policy
Moldova: Background and U.S. Policy Steven Woehrel Specialist in European Affairs April 23, 2014 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RS21981 Moldova: Background and U.S. Policy Summary Although a small country, Moldova has been of interest to U.S. policy makers due to its position between NATO and EU member Romania and strategic Ukraine. In addition, some experts have expressed concern about Russian efforts to extend its hegemony over Moldova through various methods, including a troop presence, manipulation of Moldova’s relationship with its breakaway Transnistria region, and energy supplies and other economic links. Moldova’s political and economic weakness has made it a source of organized criminal activity of concern to U.S. policy makers, including trafficking in persons. U.S. and Moldovan experts have expressed concern about whether Russian President Putin’s annexation of Crimea and attempted destabilization of eastern Ukraine presages a similar effort toward Moldova, including Russian recognition of the independence of Transnistria. After July 2009 parliamentary elections, a group of opposition parties to the then-ruling Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) formed a governing coalition that pledged to carry out reforms with the goal of closer integration with the European Union. There are few ideological differences among the governing parties, which are mainly vehicles for key political leaders and politically connected big businessmen. New parliamentary elections are expected to be held in November 2014. Moldova is Europe’s poorest country, according to the World Bank. Moldova’s GDP grew by a rapid 8.9% in 2013, spurred by strong consumer spending and a good agricultural harvest, rebounding from a drought the previous year. -
Romania, December 2006
Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: Romania, December 2006 COUNTRY PROFILE: ROMANIA December 2006 COUNTRY Formal Name: Romania. Short Form: Romania. Term for Citizen(s): Romanian(s). Capital: Bucharest (Bucureşti). Click to Enlarge Image Major Cities: As of 2003, Bucharest is the largest city in Romania, with 1.93 million inhabitants. Other major cities, in order of population, are Iaşi (313,444), Constanţa (309,965), Timişoara (308,019), Craiova (300,843), Galati (300,211), Cluj-Napoca (294,906), Braşov (286,371), and Ploeşti (236,724). Independence: July 13, 1878, from the Ottoman Empire; kingdom proclaimed March 26, 1881; Romanian People’s Republic proclaimed April 13, 1948. Public Holidays: Romania observes the following public holidays: New Year’s Day (January 1), Epiphany (January 6), Orthodox Easter (a variable date in April or early May), Labor Day (May 1), Unification Day (December 1), and National Day and Christmas (December 25). Flag: The Romanian flag has three equal vertical stripes of blue (left), yellow, and red. Click to Enlarge Image HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Early Human Settlement: Human settlement first occurred in the lands that now constitute Romania during the Pleistocene Epoch, which began about 600,000 years ago. About 5500 B.C. the region was inhabited by Indo-European people, who in turn gave way to Thracian tribes. Today’s Romanians are in part descended from the Getae, a Thracian tribe that lived north of the Danube River. During the Bronze Age (about 2200 to 1200 B.C.), these Thraco-Getian tribes engaged in agriculture, stock raising, and trade with inhabitants of the Aegean Sea coast. -
Explaining Irredentism: the Case of Hungary and Its Transborder Minorities in Romania and Slovakia
Explaining irredentism: the case of Hungary and its transborder minorities in Romania and Slovakia by Julianna Christa Elisabeth Fuzesi A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Government London School of Economics and Political Science University of London 2006 1 UMI Number: U615886 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615886 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. Signature Date ....... 2 UNIVERSITY OF LONDON Abstract of Thesis Author (full names) ..Julianna Christa Elisabeth Fiizesi...................................................................... Title of thesis ..Explaining irredentism: the case of Hungary and its transborder minorities in Romania and Slovakia............................................................................................................................. ....................................................................................... Degree..PhD in Government............... This thesis seeks to explain irredentism by identifying the set of variables that determine its occurrence. To do so it provides the necessary definition and comparative analytical framework, both lacking so far, and thus establishes irredentism as a field of study in its own right. The thesis develops a multi-variate explanatory model that is generalisable yet succinct. -
The Extreme Right in Contemporary Romania
INTERNATIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS The Extreme Right in Contemporary Romania RADU CINPOEª October 2012 n In contrast to the recent past of the country, there is a low presence of extreme right groups in the electoral competition of today’s Romania. A visible surge in the politi- cal success of such parties in the upcoming parliamentary elections of December 2012 seems to be unlikely. This signals a difference from the current trend in other European countries, but there is still potential for the growth of extremism in Roma- nia aligning it with the general direction in Europe. n Racist, discriminatory and intolerant attitudes are present within society. Casual intol- erance is widespread and racist or discriminatory statements often go unpunished. In the absence of a desire by politicians to lead by example, it is left to civil society organisations to pursue an educative agenda without much state-driven support. n Several prominent members of extreme right parties found refuge in other political forces in the last years. These cases of party migration make it hard to believe that the extreme views held by some of these ex-leaders of right-wing extremism have not found support in the political parties where they currently operate. The fact that some of these individuals manage to rally electoral support may in fact suggest that this happens precisely because of their original views and attitudes, rather than in spite of them. RADU CINPOEª | THE EXTREME RIGHT IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANIA Contents 1. Introduction. 3 2. Extreme Right Actors ...................................................4 2.1 The Greater Romania Party ..............................................4 2.2 The New Generation Party – Christian Democratic (PNG-CD) .....................6 2.3 The Party »Everything for the Country« (TPŢ) ................................7 2.4 The New Right (ND) Movement and the Nationalist Party .......................8 2.5 The Influence of the Romanian Orthodox Church on the Extreme Right Discourse .....8 3. -
A/HRC/19/60/Add.2 General Assembly
United Nations A/HRC/19/60/Add.2 General Assembly Distr.: General 27 January 2012 Original: English Human Rights Council Nineteenth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt Addendum Mission to the Republic of Moldova* Summary The present report contains the findings and recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief on his mission to the Republic of Moldova, from 1 to 8 September 2011. In the report, the Special Rapporteur gives an overview of the international human rights standards, the domestic legal framework on freedom of religion or belief and the religious demography in the Republic of Moldova. Subsequently, he addresses issues of concern for his mandate relating to the general situation of freedom of religion or belief in the country, including the privileged status of the Moldovan Orthodox Church; manifestations of intolerance; freedom of religion or belief in public school education and conscientious objection to military service. In his conclusions and recommendations, the Special Rapporteur expresses his appreciation for the fact that the Moldovan society has been, and continues to be, in a process of rapid transformation, which includes, inter alia, the development of a sustainable human rights culture in the country. The implementation of human rights standards ranks high on the Government’s agenda, and significant progress has been made. This includes freedom of religion or belief, a human right by and large respected in the Republic of Moldova. -
THE WARP of the SERBIAN IDENTITY Anti-Westernism, Russophilia, Traditionalism
HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA studies17 THE WARP OF THE SERBIAN IDENTITY anti-westernism, russophilia, traditionalism... BELGRADE, 2016 THE WARP OF THE SERBIAN IDENTITY Anti-westernism, russophilia, traditionalism… Edition: Studies No. 17 Publisher: Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia www.helsinki.org.rs For the publisher: Sonja Biserko Reviewed by: Prof. Dr. Dubravka Stojanović Prof. Dr. Momir Samardžić Dr Hrvoje Klasić Layout and design: Ivan Hrašovec Printed by: Grafiprof, Belgrade Circulation: 200 ISBN 978-86-7208-203-6 This publication is a part of the project “Serbian Identity in the 21st Century” implemented with the assistance from the Open Society Foundation – Serbia. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Open Society Foundation – Serbia. CONTENTS Publisher’s Note . 5 TRANSITION AND IDENTITIES JOVAN KOMŠIĆ Democratic Transition And Identities . 11 LATINKA PEROVIĆ Serbian-Russian Historical Analogies . 57 MILAN SUBOTIĆ, A Different Russia: From Serbia’s Perspective . 83 SRĐAN BARIŠIĆ The Role of the Serbian and Russian Orthodox Churches in Shaping Governmental Policies . 105 RUSSIA’S SOFT POWER DR. JELICA KURJAK “Soft Power” in the Service of Foreign Policy Strategy of the Russian Federation . 129 DR MILIVOJ BEŠLIN A “New” History For A New Identity . 139 SONJA BISERKO, SEŠKA STANOJLOVIĆ Russia’s Soft Power Expands . 157 SERBIA, EU, EAST DR BORIS VARGA Belgrade And Kiev Between Brussels And Moscow . 169 DIMITRIJE BOAROV More Politics Than Business . 215 PETAR POPOVIĆ Serbian-Russian Joint Military Exercise . 235 SONJA BISERKO Russia and NATO: A Test of Strength over Montenegro . -
The World's Modern Autonomy Systems
2 The concepT of poliTical auTonomy Thomas Benedikter The World‘s Modern Autonomy Systems Concepts and Experiences of Regional Territorial Autonomy 1 The World’s Modern Autonomy Systems Institute of Minority Rights Concepts and Experiences of Regional Territorial EURAC Research Autonomy Viale Druso/Drususallee 1 I – 39100 Bolzano/Bozen Bozen/Bolzano, 2009 Email: [email protected] This study was written for the European Academy of A second version of this work is available in German Bolzano/Bozen (EURAC; www.eurac.edu), Institute for language: Minority Rights, in the frame of the project Europe- Thomas Benedikter South Asia Exchange on Supranational (Regional) Autonomien der Welt – Eine Einführung in die Policies and Instruments for the Promotion of Human Regionalautonomien der Welt mit vergleichender Rights and the Management of Minority Issues Analyse, ATHESIA, Bozen 2007 (EURASIA-Net) (FP7). ISBN 978-88-8266-479-4 www.athesiabuch.it The first edition of this publication has been released [email protected] in India in 2007 under the title „The World‘s Working Regional Autonomies“ by ANTHEM PRESS, www. This work is dedicated to my father, Alfons Benedikter anthempress.com (born in 1918), who for most of his life gave his all for C-49 Kalkaji, New Delhi 110019, India autonomy and self-determination in South Tyrol. 75-76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK 244 Madison Ave. #116, New York, NY 10016, USA Edited by Copyright © EURAC 2009 This edition is published in collaboration with the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group GC 45, Sector 3, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700106, India. -
Download Full Text In
The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS Future Academy ISSN: 2357-1330 http://dx.doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2017.07.03.57 MEPDEV 2nd: 2016 Central & Eastern European LUMEN International Conference - Multidimensional Education & Professional Development. Ethical Values IDENTITY CRISIS: MOLDOVAN IDENTITY AND MACEDONIAN IDENTITY Ancuța Negrea (a)* *Corresponding author (a) Valahia” University, Târgovişte, Romania, [email protected], [email protected] Abstract Claiming a language means reclaiming its identity roots: it is hard to identify in a culture in which one does not possess the language in which it is expressed. That is why, this article concentrates on the cultural and linguistic security of a certain community that may be compromised due to competition with another language, in which case the will to protect the language and culture takes root in the public consciousness (it is the case of the competition between Romanian and Russian on the Moldovan territory). Having to resort to alternating the linguistic codes, Romanians over the Prut, as those in the south of the Danube (Macedonians) have kept generation after generation, their "home" identity consciousness. In the traditional society the identity of a person is predestined and is based on some criteria: place of birth, family, social class, religion, etc. and usually remains unchanged throughout life. The concept of identity and belonging in the globalization era was enriched by new meanings. Social mobility leads to the dissolution of the traditional model based on the hereditary principle. The search for identity is a recent phenomenon. Today, cultural identity cannot be conceived as being inherited from the family but acquired since the early years, in the process of socialization and literacy. -
Comparison of Language Policies in the Post-Soviet Union Countries on the European Continent Martin Riegl1, Tomáš Vaško2
Comparison of Language Policies in the Post-Soviet Union Countries on the European Continent Martin Riegl1, Tomáš Vaško2 Abstract: Language was one of the most important identity markers and played a crucial role in all the countries of the former Soviet Union. Governments of the newly independent countries were pressed by their ethnic constituencies to pass language laws and new constitutions in favor of the dominant national or ethnic groups. Governments of post – Soviet republics could accept the status quo of the Russian language or make the majority language the only official language of the state and face the national movements of minority groups. New constitutions and legislation severely affected the status of minority languages. Language became a politicized key component in both nation and state-building processes. As the consequence of language policies, minorities received a dramatically smaller share of government, public service and media positions than their share of the population. Thus, very visible ethno- language cleavages arose in all surveyed countries. The main conclusion of our article is the special classification of language policies in post-Soviet European states. We differ between two clean types: inclusive language policy and exclusive language policy. From these two basic types several other sub-categories are derived. Keywords: Quasi-states, language policy, de facto states, failed states, majority language, minority language rights, identity, CIS, USSR, The Baltic States, Moldova, PMR, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia. Introduction Language and national affiliation undoubtedly belong to the dominant themes of the political development of transforming countries in the European part of the former Soviet Union.