Romanian Diaspora Research Articles

DIASPORA NETWORKS AND THE CONSUMPTION OF NOSTALGIC PRODUCTS AMONG ROMANIAN MIGRANTS IN GERMANY

Statistics show that cross-national immigration represents one of the fastest growing global trends. Researchers have revealed that immigration is a transnational process with immigrants maintaining ties across the sending and receiving locations, and acting as a bridge between their countries of destination and origin. Research has also revealed the economic link created by the diaspora between the countries of origin and destination with two main components: the remittances sent to families and the consumption of home origin goods, also defined by scholars as ethnic products, nostalgic products or nostalgia products. During the period 2010-2015, the Romanian diaspora had the world's second fastest average annual growth rate. In the same period, Germany became one of the premier destinations for Romanian migration. An empirical study was organized in Germany in the period June – August 2017. The study is based on a regional survey of 124 subjects belonging to the Romanian community in Germany in four Bavarian cities. Four hypotheses have been advanced with the purpose of evaluating the level of demand for home origin products among Romanian migrants, the sources of supply, the level of expenditures and the motivational factors. The findings show that Romanian migrants in Germany manifest an important interest in and demand for home origin country goods; they spend 420 EUR yearly on ethnic products and their consumption motivation is strongly related to the products' special tastes and characteristics. Most of the products are obtained through local ethnic stores. The study’s results also reveal important similarities between the nostalgic product consumption habits of Romanian migrants in Germany and those of South American migrants in the U.S. The study’s findings are relevant for both the literature and for the Romanian companies, especially the ones active in the food and drink sector.

Emotional Convergence in Mass and Social Media in Election. Case Study: Romania 2014

The present study is centered on some of the recent transformations that have taken place in the field of political communication, influenced by changes in the broader area of communications and, consequently, by the increasingly easier access to modern equipment and technology. These developments take the form of media, technological and emotional convergence, leading to major changes in the public and political spheres, therefore contributing to the electoral victory of certain candidates credited with smaller chances of success. The study centers on the Romanian presidential elections that took place in the autumn of 2014. Then, a large percentage of the Romanian diaspora – most of them living in Western European countries – have given their support to those candidates considered to have a more democratic approach to government in Romania. The need for change came to be regarded as a challenge, and the subsequent tensions led to the formation of a virtual group, whose members were brought together by their adherence to a shared set of values – translated into active influence in the mass and social media, electronic mail, or via telephone. This movement was so effective, that the runner-up in the first round (30.3% of the votes) won the second round of elections with a total score of 54.4%.

Romanian Diaspora in Transition

Romanian Diaspora in Transition

Eastern Orthodox Church and the Christian Mission in the Twenty-First Century

The Orthodox Church is present today all over the world, due to its mission and to the migration of the members of this church from their motherlands to the Western world. This migration took place so that its people could live in freedom, during the period of totalitarianism, or to have better conditions of life, particularly after the fall of Communism. Its mission has to be seriously taken into account in the context of Christian world mission, in order to have a relation with the living tradition of the church, on the one hand, or to know and have a vision of the doctrine of Christianity in its unity and witness in Christian history, on the other hand. By migration, the Orthodox Church became a factor in universal witness to the world as, for example, the Orthodox Romanian diaspora in the eu or usa.

Migrant Political Participation and Voting Behavior in Romania

The results of the first round 2014 presidential elections in Romania predicted a comfortable win for the incumbent Prime Minister Victor Ponta, the president of the Social Democratic Party. After the first round, Ponta held a 10% lead over the Christian-Liberal Alliance candidate Klaus Iohannis. The runoff campaign was marked by reports displayed on all TV channels showing the Romanian Diaspora not being able to vote abroad. Surprisingly, Klaus Iohannis, who obtained 54% of the votes, won the second round of elections. Iohannis obtained 89% of Diaspora’s votes, adding a 4% gain in front of his contender. In most studies on electoral behavior, the focus for explaining why people go to vote is centered at the level of the “country, election, electoral cohort or individual voter” (Franklin 2004). Notably absent from these studies is the impact Diaspora on the election results and the predictors of turnout. The impact on national elections of this category of citizens is not to be neglected and it becomes important especially in democratizing states. In this vein we focus on the predictors that lie behind the political participation and preferences of Romanian Diaspora. We will test two basic models that explain participation (Franklin 2004). First there is research that focuses on the social determinants of voting (Verba and Nie 1972) labeled as “the baseline model”. Another stream of studies includes electoral system effects and political system format (Blais and Aarts 2006, Cox 1997, Franklin 2004). We claim that Romanian Diaspora voters participate in higher numbers in presidential elections when the number of voting stations increases. Romanian diaspora consistently votes with center right wing parties and candidates. This vote is associated with liberal policy preferences and support for issues that promote libertarian attitudes. We test these hypotheses with elections results data from 2000 to 2014 coupled with data collected from Votulmeu.com an online Voting Advice Application from the 2014 presidential elections in Romania.

From the 'Strawberry Jam' to the 'Sushi-Bar': Romanian Migration in the Context of Asia's Increasing Economic Role

The paper analyzes the following points: 1) The increase of Asia’s economical role (consequences of moving the world economic centre from the Atlantic to Pacific; the new centres of power: China and Japan; Asia’s attraction; the new economical configuration, an important migration vector) 2) Romania and the Strawberry Jam. Comparative analysis between countries of destination for Romanian emigration; remittances versus FDI; the influence of the economic crisis on development. 3) Chinese Diaspora in Romania. Romanian migration to Japan. Specificities, trends, development of phenomena. How to create a Romanian Diaspora?

Introduction to Special Issue: Select Papers from the Commemoration of the 50Th Anniversary of Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's the New Rhetoric

Chaim Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca published Traite de l'argumentation: la nouvelle rhetorique in 1958, a work that has since come to represent the revival of rhetoric, helping to prompt the rhetorical turn in twentieth-century thought. The influence of their work is seen in a host of disciplines, including rhetoric, philosophy, jurisprudence, communication studies, critical theory, argumentation and informal reasoning. To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the appearance of the Perelman Olbrechts-Tyteca magnus opus, John Gage, Jim Crosswhite and I collaborated to host international conference at the University of Oregon on May 17-20, 2008. Featured speakers at the conference included Jeanne Fahnestock, University of Maryland; Alan G. Gross, University of Minnesota; Michael C. Left, University of Memphis; Perelman's daughter Noemi Mattis Perelman; Francis J. Mootz III, Dickinson School of Law, Pennsylvania State University; Christopher W. Tindale, University of Windsor; and Barbara Warnick, University of Pittsburgh. Over 100 papers were presented at the conference on a variety of topics, including: argumentation, informal reasoning, legal argument and justice, rhetoric and human rights, and ethical rhetoric and communication. Dale Hample has generously offered me the opportunity to select from among the conference papers those the readers of Argumentation and Advocacy would find informative on issues related to argumentation theory and practice. The four essays in this special volume represent significant thinking about the new rhetoric, and the high quality of scholarship we witnessed at the conference. Three of the four essays are based on original archival research, and the author of the fourth provides his experience teaching Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's argument theory with a distinguished philosopher and the responses of his students. Jim Crosswhite, author of the lead article, is one the best readers of Perelman and is well known for his Rhetoric of Reason (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996), which the Modern Language Association awarded the Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize. His essay in this special issue extends his thinking about the new rhetoric. For scholars and teachers of argument, his essay will be a significant contribution. He highlights the limitations of argument modeling, and illustrates the need for argument theory to better develop the sources of argument invention. He juxtaposes the Toulmin model with Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's theory of argumentation. While the former is static, decidedly unrhetorical, the latter, Crosswhite maintains, is less a model and more a philosophical effort to set the boundaries of argument and the sources of argument invention. Enacting Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's agenda, Crosswhite reflects on his concrete experience teaching a Perelmanian perspective of argumentation in collaboration with philosopher Mark Johnson, co-author of Metaphors We Live By, and student evaluations of his efforts to use the new rhetoric in the classroom. Perelman was a Jew, a biographical and cultural fact influencing the new rhetoric. Andreea Deciu Ritivoi and Janice W. Fernheimer consider both argument theory in the new rhetoric and the contested nature of twentieth-century Judaism in their essays. Ritivoi is the author of the well-reviewed Paul Ricoeur: Tradition and Innovation in Rhetorical Theory (State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, 2006). She provides a new interpretation of what Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca believed was their most innovative contribution to philosophical thinking, the notion of dissociation. She considers dissociation in both its pluralistic and dichotomous expressions. The framing of the post-World War II Romanian Diaspora and the Aron-DeGaulle confrontation, in this essay, is a contribution to our field's thinking about dissociation, bolstered with research conducted in the Hoover archive and a sophisticated close reading of the arguments advanced in the Aron-DeGaulle exchange. …

The Dissociation of Concepts in Context: An Analytic Template for Assessing Its Role in Actual Situations

Dissociation is a key argument technique in Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's new rhetoric. In this essay, I consider how dissociation work in argumentative contexts. I explore dissociation in two rhetorical exchanges: one features the representation of the post-World War II Romanian Diaspora and the second, the Aron-DeGaulle confrontation in France. My examination of actual cases of argumentation about Jewish identity reveals two expressions of dissociation. The first, dichotomous dissociation, is agonistic and consists of contested values that may be mutually exclusive. The second, pluralistic dissociation, is more ecumenical, assuming that contested values might coexist. Both types of dissociation are present in many rhetorical exchanges, and should be included in any taxonomy or theory of argumentation.

Diaspora Geopolitics: Romanian-Americans and NATO Expansion

Recent years have witnessed increased interest in diasporas. In the current context of globalisation, diasporas have assumed greater prominence on the international stage. The link between diasporas and international politics, however, is relatively under-studied. The purpose of this study is to analyse the interconnections between diasporas and international politics from a geopolitical perspective. Specifically, I examine the linkages between the US-based Romanian diaspora and US foreign policy regarding Romania during the late 1990s when NATO expanded into Eastern Europe. The US-based Romanian diaspora attempted to influence the US political establishment to grant NATO membership to Romania during NATO’s 1997 expansion by reshaping the prevailing geopolitical discourse about Romania in order to move the borders of ‘sameness’ to include Romania as similar to rather than apart from ‘the West’.