I am wary of the overly-simplistic, culturally-determined arguments for the harshness and depth of the Romanian communist experiment. Those familiar with Romanian history know that the Orthodox Church plays a minor role in communism's ascent and maintenance of power in Romania. What really kept the communists in power was their ability to harness nationalism and the forces of history in the creation of a novel, indigenous, national-greatness communism whose vestiges pollute political discourse to the current day. Smug commentaries on Romanian political culture do not offer new frameworks for understanding the Romanian transition; they serve only to cement existing stereotypes and offer excuses for truly liberal scholarship.
What follows is a collection of resources which locate the challenges of the Romanian post-communist transition in something more sound than Samuel P. Huntington's overgeneralized framework.
I'll begin with Cheng Chen’s notable paper, “The Roots of Illiberal Nationalism in Romania: A Historical Institutionalist Analysis of the Leninist Legacy”, which traces the post-communist problems of resurgent Romanian nationalism to the period of Leninist nation-building in Romania. A number of the resources which follow reaffirm Chen's historical institutionalist approach. He notes:
Chen chronicles the communist leadership's attempt to indigenize communism through appeals to Romanian nationalism.
J.F. Brown's Eastern Europe and Communist Rule examines the history of East European communism, distinguishing the foreignness of communist ideology to Romanian political movements.
Stefan Auer's paper, "Nationalism in Central Europe-- A Chance or a Threat for the Emerging Liberal Democratic Order?", critiques the assumption that Eastern Orthodoxy is inherently more illiberal than Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Auer observers that Croatia, a predominantly Catholic country, has more serious and divisive problems with illiberal nationalism than Romania.
Katherine Verdery's National Ideology Under Socialism examines the "modes of control" implemented by the Ceausescu regime to keep internal dissent at bay.
Vladimir Tismaneanu's Reinventing Politics: Eastern Europe from Stalin to Havel is a wonderful example of thoughtful and thought-promoting scholarship on the postcommunist transitions.
Romanian anti-Semitism was encouraged and promoted by the Ceausescu cult's emphasis on the purely Romanian communism which replaced the foreign, Russian, and Jewish communism of the Pauker days. Contrary to its universalist creed, Romanian communism reinforced existing anti-Semitic impulses. Given that communist ideology lacked an indigenous following in Romania, many Romanians were able to blame "Others" for communism, particularly Russians and Jews. For an interesting perspective on Romanian anti-Semitism, read "Anti-Semitic Propaganda and Official Rhetoric Concerning the Judeo-Bolshevik Danger: Romanian Jews and Communism Between 1938-1944".
Juliana Geran Pilon's book, The Bloody Flag Post-Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe, invokes a personal, incisive view of postcommunist nationalism in Eastern Europe with a special focus on Romania. As a Romanian Jewish emigre, Geran Pilon is particularly well-equipped to analyze social trends in Romania.
Daniel Fehrer's paper, "Long Lasting Legacy Dangerous Games and Dangerous Consequences, The Impact of Romanian National History Writing Under Ceausescu on Politics in Post-Communist Romania" is delightful and on-pointe.
Odds & Ends - The webpage dedicated to transdisciplinarity in science and religion provides a wealth of resources on Romanian transdisciplinary studies. The discussion of Daco-Roman theory as instituted by Gheorghiu-Dej at the Ancient Roman Forum is quite rich. The photo, Galati 2006, was taken by Jana Cavojska. I welcome any more suggestions to add to this list.
