Romania after 1989
Politicians in Romania also use the communist past in order to legitimate their power (Karlson, p.7). “During the two decades after the Revolution of 1989, societies in Central and Eastern Europe have evolved from an authoritarian, centralized and bureaucratic Leninist regime, to democratic forms of political and economical organization.”(Tismaneanu, 2009).
Romania fell under the communist rule in 1940s and escaped its control in 1989. The transition to democracy was a very painful and long waited process as this was the only country from the Soviet bloc to suffer an aggressive revolution (Popescu & Kaneva, 2011). Change was highly and impatiently expected and when the regime fall politicians tried to forget it. But the people’s memories of this period could not be erased that easily and even today politicians misuse the historical facts for their advantage (Karlsson).
Historical overview
Events in December 1989 led to a lot of transformations in all aspects of life in Romania. “The communist regime was the worst that Romania has experienced” (Gallagher, 2005, p. 2). This is the general opinion about this period in the country. Because of the negative images that it created, politicians try to deal with the past very carefully and in the same way use it to justify their power (Karlsson, p.13)
With Ceausescu’s regime being removed and the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was finally a clear way for the democracy to be established and a new Constitution to be accepted. But what were the chances for the instauration/reconstruction? of a healthy, non-communist political system, in such a short and relatively late time after the most violent revolution in Romanian history?
After 1989 a great number of new ...
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...lowed and forgotten? Should not the population know its history, instead of refusing it? Now Romanian politicians are facing the difficulties on how to continue dealing with the communist past of the country. Many of the other countries from the former Soviet bloc have already accepted this part of their history. One solution is given by Stan, who says “Assuming the past, even partial, seems to be a test that all post-communist countries must pass, sooner or later.” (Stan, 2006).
Bulgaria and Romania experienced the communist period differently and this results in the different interpretations of the use of history by politicians in the two countries (Light, 2001, p 71). While Bulgaria is trying to accept the past by opening a Museum of Socialist Art, Romania is still hesitating on the path it has to take when dealing with the memories of this regime.
Heda Margolius Kovály’s memoir, “Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968” recounts her experience of the Holocaust and the Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia, during the 20th century. In 1945, after the holocaust and after World War II, Czechoslovakia was in a period of distress, which made people seek for communism as a solution. Communism, a totalitarian regime, was a form of government in which nobody was allowed to own any private property and the government controlled all economic activity. This government structure was not only corrupt, but it also caused more economic crisis in Czechoslovakia. Despite the rough situation that Czechoslovakia was going through, none of its
During the 20th century, the rise of communism sparked rage in people throughout the world. More towards the end of the 1900's the fall of communism and dictatorships was just the beginning of what would eventually be a large democratic change for several countries. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End, speaks about the change brought to several different countries from the 1980's-1990's and plans to show "the global transformations that marked the end of the cold war and shaped the era in which we live"(Pg V). During the cold war, communist had power and control over a large area and spread communism throughout several continents. This book specifically hits on six different studies of where communism and dictatorship affected these areas and what they did to stop it. Poland, Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China throughout the end of the 20th century created revolutionary movements which brought them all one step closer to freeing themselves and creating democratic change.
One difference between the Hungarians and the Czechs was the effects of nationalism on the uprisings. Rooted in their history from 1848 Revolution against the Habsburg Empire, the Hungarians sought independence with the death of Stalin. Matyas Rakoski, a Stalin protégé, came to power as General Secretary of the Hungarian Worker’s Party in 1949. Using his authority as General Secretary, Rakoski oppressed the people of Hungary including purging political dissidents and killing 2,000 people of the total population. He used the State Protection Agency to carry out the purges bringing in an administration of absolute control and fear to the people of Hungary. But, the Hungarians would not completely abandon their nationalist hop...
2.Chiva, Cristina. "Women In Post-Communist Politics: Explaining Under-Representation In The Hungarian And Romanian Parliaments." Europe-Asia Studies 57.7 (2005): 969-994. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
Ray, Rob, and John S, eds. “1956: The Hungarian Revolution.” Libcom. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. .
Comparing the events in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. Both of these events covered the same basic outline: a revolt, reforms. in the country and the USSR’s reaction to these modifications. However, In both cases, the situation differed with many similarities and difference. The sand is Both events started with the same cause, dissatisfaction with Communism and the restrictions that come with it.
Following the death of Josef Stalin in 1953, the harsh policies he implemented in not only the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, but also its many satellite nations began to break down. There was a movement to distance all of the socialist nations from Stalin?s sadistic rule. In the Peoples? Republic of Hungary, there was much disillusionment with this Stalinist absolutism (Felkay 50). This disillusionment with the Soviet ideal of socialism lead the people of the fledgeling socialist state of Hungary to rise up in revolt, but ill-preparedness and the strength of the Soviet Red Army put down the insurrection within several days.
Oprica, V. (2007), ‘Gender Equality and Conflicting Attitudes Towards Women in Post-Communist Romania’, Human Rights Review, 9(1), p29-40
Hungary experienced not only Soviet occupation, but also political oppression and economic decline. Many were critical of Hungary’s problems due to Soviet control, especially political oppression. Hungary developed into a communist state under the severe, dictatorial rule of Mátyás Rákosi. During Rákosi’s control, the Security Police began a series of eliminations, starting with...
The last two decades of the twentieth century gave rise to turbulent times for constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, eventually leading them to split apart. There were a number of damaging aspects of past history and of the political and economic circumstances that contributed to the breakup and eventually caused the situation to snowball into a deadly series of inter-ethnic conflicts. Yugoslavia was reunified at the end of the war when the communist forces of Josip Broz Tito liberated the country. Under Tito, Yugoslavia adopted a relatively liberal form of government in comparison to other East European communist states at the time and experienced a period of relative economic and political stability until Tito’s death in 1980. In addition to internal power struggles following the loss of their longtime leader, Yugoslavia faced an unprecedented economic crisis in the 1980’s. As other communist states began to fall in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, some former Communist leaders abandoned communism and founded or supported ethno-national parties, blaming the economic suffering on the flaws of communism and other ethnic groups. The ethnic violence that followed would not have been possible without the willingness of politicians from every side to promote ethno-nationalist symbols and myths through media blitzes, which were especially effective due to low levels of education in the former Yugoslavia. Shadows of the events of World War II gave these politicians, especially the Serbs, an opportunity to encourage the discussion and exaggeration of past atrocities later in the century. The ethnic violence in the former Yugoslavia can be traced back to a series of linked damaging factors such as the de...
Todd, Allan. (2009) Democracies and Dictatorship: Europe and the World 1919-1989. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Tomkinson, John L. (2008) The Cold War: Themes in Twentieth Century World History for the International Baccalaureate.
East Germany, its demise relayed through the mass media of recent history, has in popular consciousness been posited as negative, a corrupt bulwark of the last dying days of Communism in Eastern Europe, barren and silent. The other Germany to its West, its citizens free, was striding confidently ahead into the millennium. Recent cinema has sought to examine re-unification, the Wolfgang Becker film Goodbye Lenin! (2003) a recent example of such an investigation into the past through cinema. In this essay I will look at the film and the narrative techniques it uses, probing whether it portrays the East German nation as positive or negative, concluding that though many negatives are identified, some positives are deduced from Honecker's state. I will also consider why, in recent times, East Germans have come to regard their former state with nostalgia, or as the Germans would put it, ostalgie, an act which Goodbye Lenin! (2003) explores.
1848 was described as “a sunny spring of the peoples abruptly interrupted by the winter of the princes”. “It has often been said.that in 1848.European history reached its turning point and failed to turn”4. There are a variety of reasons that can be given for the failure of the Revolutions, these include the divisions amongst revolutionaries, the continuing social and economic problems of the countries involved, the difficulty in replacing the old regimes and the problem of the new inexperienced electorates. There does not appear to be one clear, defining reason which led to the old regimes regaining power after the 1848 Revolutions. All the factors seem to be equally important and to some extent, connected.
"From Autocracy to Oligarchy." The Structure of Soviet History: Essays and Documents. Ed. Ronald Grigor. Suny. New York: Oxford UP, 2003. 340-50. Print.
"The Velvet Revolution: A Peaceful End to Communism in Czechoslovakia." Tavaana. E-Collaborative for Civic Education, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.