The re-construction of Romanian civil society.

Romania's gradual evolution from one of the most repressive communist dictatorships to a European market democracy continues to astound many scholars and academics, who cited Ceausescu's complete annihilation of Romanian civil society as an almost insurmountable obstacle to transition. How did civil society develop in the Romanian transition period? How did the narrative of the 1989 revolution adjust to revelations of the National Salvation Front's communist ties? How did the Romanian people find a way to claim the revolution as their own and thereby legitimize the movement towards a European democracy?

Julia Brotea and Daniel Beland's paper, "“Better Dead than Communist!” Contentious Politics, Identity Formation, and the University Square Phenomenon in Romania", traces the Romanian struggle to construct a livable national identity in the wake of communism. The authors attempt to show that "the political identity gained during the University Square Phenomenon and the repertoire for political protest it generated played a decisive role in its aftermath and the naissance of a democratic civil society in Romania".