Romania And The Quest For European Identity

Exploring the largely positive representations of Romanian Germans predominating in post-1989 Romanian society, this book shows that the underlying reasons for German prestige are strongly connected with Romania’s endeavors to become European. The election, in 2014, of Klaus Iohannis as Romania’s president was hailed as evidence that the country chose a 'European’ future: that Iohannis belonged to Romania’s tiny German minority was also considered to have played a part in his success. Cercel argues that representations of Germans in Romania, descendants of twelfth-century and eighteenth-century colonists, become actually a symbolic resource for asserting but also questioning Romania’s European identity. Such representations link Romania’s much-desired European belonging with German presence, whilst German absence is interpreted as a sign of veering away from Europe. Investigating this case of discursive "self-colonization" and this apparent symbolic embrace of the German Other in Romania, the book offers a critical study of the discourses associated with Romania’s postcommunist "Europeanization" to contribute a better understanding of contemporary West-East relationships in the European context. This fresh and insightful approach will interest postgraduates and scholars interested in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe and in German minorities outside Germany. It should also appeal to scholars of memory studies and those interested in the study of otherness in general.

Irrespective of the level of analysis, identity remains a vague concept, slippery, and insufficiently elaborated and defined. Be it individual or collective, ethnical or social, local or general, regional (e.g. the EU) or global, identity is a recurrent subject in political debates. Situated on the edge of history, anthropology, sociology, political science, and psychology it increasingly becomes a leading paradigm in the area of social sciences. Starting from the broader European perspective, this volume has a multidisciplinary approach and gathers relevant works of internationally renowned scholars who tackle questions related to the Romanian identity: Who are the Romanians? What is the essence of their identity and how has it evolved along history? What are their primary qualities and flaws? How do Romanians perceive their Europeanness and how do they assume their European condition? With no claim to unique answers, the book provides a multi-layered view of what Romanian identity means in contemporary period and how it develops in the broader European context. By challenging the common sense understanding of identity, we raise even more questions to be anasered by further research.

Preface -- Nationalism - Conceptual Framework -- Continuity and Discontinuity in the Romanian Nationalist Discourse -- Tradition, Context and Transition to Post-communism -- The Greater Romania Party: Background, Competition and Significance -- The Party and its Leader -- The Decline of the Greater Romania Party -- Romania in the EU: The Future of Nationalism -- Conclusions.

Based on primary and secondary sources, this study evaluates the diplomatic maneuvers of the Great Powers related to the Romanian movement for independence during the Russo-Turkish War and the ensuing international tensions.

Based on hundreds of primary sources in a wide range of languages, this book offers a reevaluation of Romanian images of self and other, as well as of foreign images of the country and people. A nuanced and historically-grounded contribution to the lively debates over Balkanism, Orientalism and identities in Romania and in Europe as a whole.