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CIAO DATE: 05/05
Volume 4, Number 2, Winter 2004
A Word from the Editor (PDF, 4 pages, 48.0 KB)
PolSci Papers
2004 Romanian Elections: Test Case for a True Romanian Democracy (PDF, 22 pages, 185.1 KB) by Sorana Pârvulescu
The article analysis the development and results of the November 2004 presidential and parliamentary elections in Romania. In the first part, it is argued that elections were free, but unfair, because of the control exercised by the party in government over state and media agencies, because of allegations of electoral frauds and because of an unfair electoral campaign. The second part of the article analyzes the outcome of the elections as a democratic exercise in alternation in power, and explains the mechanisms through which these outcomes were reached. The paper concludes with a few remarks on the quality of democracy in Romania and on the poor state of the rule of law demonstrated by recent political developments.
A "Grammar of Exculpation" in Communist Historiography: Distortion of the History of the Holocaust Under Ceausescu (PDF, 18 pages, 158.1 KB) by Adrian Cioflâncã
This aim of this article is to show how the history of the Holocaust was distorted by communist historiography during the Ceausescu regime in Romania. To this aim, the author conducts a content analysis on a representative sample of history books published in Romania during the 1970s and the 1980s and examines the main patterns of the communist discourse regarding the Holocaust, fascism and the Antonescu regime. On the basis of this analysis the paper concludes that historiography was strictly controlled at that time and that the RCP ideological blueprint prevailed over science, while historiography was used to illustrate Romania's self-victimization and serve the political enterprises of different communist regimes in an attempt to deny Romanian participation in the Holocaust. At the same time, the author argues that post-communist Romanian negationism has roots in this communist historiography on the Holocaust.
Putin Running the Duma: A Quest for Stability, Regardless of Democratization (PDF, 24 pages, 183.6 KB) by Mihai Varga
The institutional change on the level of Executive-Legislative relationships initiated through the Putin Presidency, although less visible than the prolonged stand-offs between Yeltsin and the Congress or the consequences related to the adoption of the 1993 Constitution, is apt to produce results at least as spectacular. Certainly some of the features of the Putin presidency provide positive prospects for the State-Duma's functioning: the last four years of office proved that until now, the President has sought to give the legislation he initiates the legitimacy of parliamentary control and approval, and that he is committed to keep the Duma the main stage for law-making. On the other hand, further obstruction of party participation in government formation, administrative pressure on political parties through the 2001 party law, the transformation of regional elites into enemies of federal parties through maneuvering in and around the Federation Council, and, most of all, recent State Duma elections suggest that the Duma's part in the near future will remain subsidiary.
Focus: Minorities and Ethnic Politics
Pre-Accession, Naturalisation, and 'Due Regard To Community Law'. The European Union's 'Steering' of National Citizenship Policies in Candidate Countries During the Fifth Enlargement (PDF, 18 pages, 171.9 KB) by Dimitry Kochenov
"Although the EU Commission holds the necessary tools to determine the candidate countries in the recent enlargement to resolve the citizenship issue, sometimes the conclusions were drawn on other basis than those resulted from the monitorization process. The examples of Latvia and Estonia are both contradictory and presented as successes for the process. When one looks at these countries, sees a high degree of Commission's success in changing the situation of the minorities and "stateless" residents trough concrete measures: elimination of "age windows" system in providing the citizenship, allowing the children from stateless parents to obtain the nationality at birth, elimination of the extra-fees system for the naturalization exams, but can also witness the prevalence of some negative provisions as the income discrimination in the citizenship granting-process. The paper admits that important steps were made during the pre-accession negotiations particularly with Latvia and Estonia but the main criticism, generally available, is that there were not clear standards versus the evaluation of the citizenship policies. The fact that Latvia and Estonia "did" as good as other countries accessing the EU in May 2004 despite the minorities problem is an evidence for this criticism".
The Effects of Interregional Wage Differentials on Linguistic Heterogeneity (PDF, 22 pages, 212.8 KB) by Daniel Pop
Explanations of the ethnic composition of local labor markets usually focus on the role of community and political choices in minority policy rather than on that of economic factors. We propose to contribute to this literature by inquiring about the effect that voluntary labor migration driven by income differentials has on minority groups. We focus on the cases of Hungary, Romania, and Transylvania (the north-western province of Romania). We show that sufficiently large wage differentials produce unidirectional migration to the region with higher wages. To evaluate the effects of this type of migration, we use a three-level hierarchical CGE model. The findings indicate that, under conditions of sufficiently large interregional wage differentials, linguistic match between the receiving region and a segment of labor in the source region might lead to language skill based migration. The general conclusion is that labor liberalization under conditions of significantly large wage differentials and language preferences in the host market leads to language homogenization in formerly mixed regions.
Does Tolerance Kill? The Hungarian Minority in Romania: A Case Study (PDF, 8 pages, 131.3 KB) by Doina Cajvaneanu
The starting point for this research was the disturbingly high rate of suicide among Hungarians in Harghita. The initial impulse was to connect this fact with the minority status of Hungarians in Romania and with the problem of tolerance. However, Romania is internationally recognized as meeting the criteria of tolerance with respect to its ethnic minorities (European Commission reports). So, why do Hungarians in Harghita still have a high rate of suicide despite living in a tolerant society? What other factors might explain this social phenomenon? This puzzle led me to question the efficiency and sufficiency of tolerance in ensuring a functioning, integrated, multiethnic society and to explore minority-majority relations in Harghita more deeply. The theoretical approach is based on Emile Durkheim's empirical studies of suicide.
PolSci Documents
The Story of the Infamous PSD Leadership Meetings Transcripts: A Case Study in (Failing) Rule of Law in Romania (PDF, 7 pages, 110.9 KB) by Sorin Ionita
PolSci Reviews
"Theft of a Nation. Romania Since Communism" (PDF, 6 pages, 108.4 KB) reviewed by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi
"Everyday Life in Communism" (PDF, 6 pages, 108.4 KB) reviewed by Emanuel Rauta and Razvan Stan
"A Critical Analysis of Transition. What Will Be 'After'" (PDF, 6 pages, 108.4 KB) reviewed by Laura Simionescu