Sinziana-Elena Poiana Ioana Lupea Irina-Madalina Doroftei Alina Mungiu-Pippidi
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TOLERANCE AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY DISCOURSES IN ROMANIA Sinziana-Elena Poiana Ioana Lupea Irina-Madalina Doroftei Alina Mungiu-Pippidi Romanian Academic Society 2012/33 5. New Knowledge Country Synthesis Reports EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE , FLORENCE ROBERT SCHUMAN CENTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES Tolerance and Cultural Diversity Discourses in Romania SINZIANA -ELENA POIANA IOANA LUPEA IRINA -MADALINA DOROFTEI ALINA MUNGIU -PIPPIDI ROMANIAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY WP5 Comprehensive Country Report D 5.1 Country Synthesis Report on Tolerance and Cultural Diversity Concepts and Practices © 2012 Romanian Academic Society This text may be downloaded only for personal research purposes. Additional reproduction for other purposes, whether in hard copies or electronically, requires the consent of the author(s), editor(s). If cited or quoted, reference should be made to the full name of the author(s), editor(s), the title, the research project, the year and the publisher. Published by the European University Institute Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Via dei Roccettini 9 50014 San Domenico di Fiesole - Italy ACCEPT PLURALISM Research Project, Tolerance, Pluralism and Social Cohesion: Responding to the Challenges of the 21 st Century in Europe European Commission, DG Research Seventh Framework Programme Social Sciences and Humanities grant agreement no. 243837 www.accept-pluralism.eu www.eui.eu/RSCAS/ Available from the EUI institutional repository CADMUS cadmus.eui.eu Tolerance, Pluralism and Social Cohesion: Responding to the Challenges of the 21st Century in Europe (ACCEPT PLURALISM) ACCEPT PLURALISM is a Research Project, funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Program. The project investigates whether Eu ropean societies have become more or less tolerant during the past 20 years. In particular, t he project aims to clarify: (a) how is tolerance defined conceptually, (b) how it is codified in norms, institutional arrangements, public policies and social prac tices, (c) how tolerance can be measured (whose tolerance, who is tolerated, and what if degrees of tolerance vary with reference to different minority groups). The ACCEPT PLURALISM consortium conducts original empirical research on key issues in school life and in politics that thematise different understandings and practices of tolerance. Bringing together empirical and theoretical findings, ACCEPT PLURALISM generates a State of the Art Report on Tolerance and Cultural Diversity in Europe, a Handbook on Ideas of Tolerance and Cultural Diversity in Europe , a Tolerance Indicators’ Toolkit where qualitative and quantitative indicators may be used to score each country’s performance on tolerating cultural diversity, and several academic publications (books, jo urnal articles) on Tolerance, Pluralism and Cultural Diversity in Europe . The ACCEPT PLULARISM consortium is formed by 18 partner institutions covering 15 EU countries. The project is hosted by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies and co-ordinate d by Prof. Anna Triandafyllidou. The EUI, the RSCAS and the European Commission are not responsible for the opinion expressed by the author(s). The Romanian Academic Society (SAR) aims to further the ideas of freedom, democracy and good governance in Eastern Europe. Starting with our own region we seek to raise the public awareness level of policy issues, contribute through research and advocacy to informed policy formulation and assist administrative reform through performance assessment. Alina Mungiu Pippidi, the president of SAR, is Professor of Democratisation Studies at the Hertie School of Governance. She studied political science at Harvard University after completing a PhD in Social Psychology in 1995 at the University of Iasi in Romania. She taught at the University of Bucharest and SNSPA Romania, and was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford, Harvard, the European University Institute and St. Antony's College of Oxford University , among others. She is a board member of the International Forum of Democracy Studies and the Journal of Democracy. She has consulted for Freedom House, UNDP and World Bank on issues of state building in the Balkans and former Soviet Union. She has authored and co-authored several books and academic articles on nationalism and minority-majority relationship such as Nationalism after Communism. Lessons learned from nation and state building , (edited with I. Krastev New York and Budapest: Central European University Press, 2004), Romania after 2000. Threats and Challenges (Ed., Bucharest: UNDP, 2002), Subjective Transylvania. A case study of ethnic conflict ( Bucharest: Humanitas, 1998). Ioana Lupea, Sinziana – Elena Poiana and Irina-Madalina Doroftei are rese archers within the ACCEPT PLURALISM Romanian team. Contact details: Irina – Madalina Doroftei, Research Assistant Romanian Academic Society 61 Mihai Eminescu, Bucharest Romania 020071 Tel: +40 212 111 424; Fax: + 40 212 111 477 E-mail: [email protected] www.sar.org.ro For more information on the Socio Economic Sciences and Humanities Programme in FP7 see: http://ec.europa.eu/research/social-sciences/index_en.htm http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/cooperation/socio-economic_en.html Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................ 2 Keywords ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter 1: Ethnic Diversity Challenges in Romania: Tolerance Discourses and Realities ................... 6 National identity: Romania is… .......................................................................................................... 7 Balkan ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Not Western: Modernization as Rape ...................................................................................... 8 But European… ..................................................................................................................... 10 Cultural diversity challenges in the past 30 years in Romania .......................................................... 12 Challenges post – 2000: Orthodoxy as identity standard ....................................................... 13 Hungarian minority ................................................................................................................ 15 The Roma: the ignored challenge .......................................................................................... 19 The discourse and definitions of tolerance in Romania .................................................................... 23 Individual versus collective rights: The language battles ...................................................... 23 The policy of tolerance .......................................................................................................... 24 The war of political symbols: Catholic versus Orthodox....................................................... 25 The economics of ethnic diversity ......................................................................................... 25 Concluding remarks .......................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 2: The Embodiment of Tolerance in Discourses and Practices Addressing Cultural Diversity in Romanian Schools ............................................................................................................................. 29 Methodology and research design ..................................................................................................... 32 Case study 1: Alleged Discrimination against Roma ........................................................................ 33 Background information ........................................................................................................ 33 Analysis of the field research ................................................................................................. 37 Case study 2: On the right to an education environment that is free of religious symbols ............... 42 Background information ........................................................................................................ 42 Analysis of the field research ................................................................................................. 45 Concluding remarks .......................................................................................................................... 52 Chapter 3: Acceptance or Lack of Tolerance towards Minorities in Romanian Public Administration 54 Methodology and research design ..................................................................................................... 55 Background information.................................................................................................................... 55 Analysis of the field research ............................................................................................................ 59 Concluding remarks and recommendations ...................................................................................... 70 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................