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Focus
The Romanian Sociology in the Transition Period
by Maria Larionescu,
Prior to 1945 Romania had a well-developed sociological school, well related to Western Europe and enjoying a good reputation in Romania. Among the many endeavors of this school the four-volumes Romanian Encyclopedia commissioned by the Royal Foundation remains the main source of data for pre-Communist Romania. During early Communist years sociologists had to choose between collaborating with the Communist regime and accepting Marxism-Leninism or facing the loss of their jobs and even freedom. The year 1989 brought along the rebirth of Romanian sociology after many years of constraints and ideological obstacles. A comprehensive image of the status of sociology in transition requires an examination also of the recent history of the discipline. This comprehensive report with an updated bibliography fills a void for the student of Romania or East European sociology.
published in Vol 3 - No 1 - 2003 // Reinventing Social Sciences
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ABSTRACT
The Political Science production after 1989 is, not surprisingly, quite poor. Only five authors published books abroad, though many more chapters in edited books and journals by Western publishers were authored by Romanians. Nuclei of empirical research started to develop in Cluj and Bucharest. New centers, as Iasi and Timisoara, have stepped in more recently.... »
FOCUS
Prior to 1945 Romania had a well-developed sociological school, well related to Western Europe and enjoying a good reputation in Romania. Among the many endeavors of this school the four-volumes Romanian Encyclopedia commissioned by the Royal Foundation remains the main source of data for pre-Communist Romania. During early Communist years sociologists had to choose between... »
The quantity and quality of Romanian historians work improved seriously after the fall of communism. Altough the new generation of historians, historians that borrowed the know-how from the West, have to face many obstacles, the battle is not lost already. The battle between those who want to revive the “grand-narrative” from communism and those who... »
Neagu Djuvara is a professional diplomate, a historian of South-Eastern Europe and an opinion leader. He left Romania shortly before the advent of Communism, and returned after 1989 as a senior scholar, who spent most of his career years in the West. His intervention in this symposium is rooted in his own experience. Djuvara claims... »
Due to the subservience to the previous regime, many professional historians were considered untrustworthy and discredited as interpreters of past and present in the former eastern communist countries. Their evolution after glasnost and perestroika contained some important steps. First, they challenged the communist political taboos under glasnost’ and deconstructed the communist political myths and historical... »
The paper draws on a report on the state of the art in East European political science based on country reports. It serves as a source for those interested in the degree of development and sophistication of the political science in EU accession countries, but stands also as a scientific contribution in its own right.... »
PAPERS
It is possible that the airplane of good governance and prosperity will eventually land in Romania too? This paper starts from a metaphor that points the effects of a self-illusionate population. The author asks himself if, in the actuall state of development of Romanian economy and politics, there may be some chances left. In a... »
The East European countries’ transition towards market economy and democratic governance seems blocked. In this context, the paper argues that integration with the EU and NATO might offer a second chance for turning the transition process successful. From all causes of this delayed economic and democratic development, I chose to analyse the one essential for... »
One of the main evolutions entailed by the fall of the communist regimes in Central and South-Eastern Europe is the raise of a functional civil society aimed at influencing and holding the new political leadership accountable. The focus of this paper is on the citizen participation as a mean of interaction with the political system,... »
The transition in East European countries generated many theoretical problems, especially regarding political culture. It is as difficult to establish where the east European political culture is rooted as to describe where those societies are heading to. The article is focused on Romanian case, examining Romanian political culture’s late parting from Communism, its ‘alleged’ rural... »
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