Romanian Elite Research Articles

The Role of the ”Petru Maior” and ”România Jună” Societies in the Formation of the Romanian Elite

In the second half of the 19th century, both in Vienna and Budapest there were numerous Romanian students, but also a Romanian elite consisting of several Romanian intellectuals who held important positions. Vienna and Budapest were the most important university centers for Romanians in Transylvania. Arriving in the two capitals, the young Romanians became aware of the problems faced by the Romanian society and some of them got involved in various activities aimed at solving them and emancipating the Romanians. Among them we might mention Nicolae Oncu, who will stand out as the director of an important Romanian bank from the Dual Monarchy, the future publicist Iosif Vulcan, the composer Ciprian Porumbescu, the politician Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, the writer Ioan Slavici, the politician Vasile Goldiș, or the Romanian national poet, Mihai Eminescu. The two societies of Romanian students in the Austro-Hungarian capitals are important, because it was here that these young people met and made friends. In less than a decade they asserted themselves as important personalities, active both in Romania and in the ranks of Romanians from the Dual Monarchy. Most of them became supporters of the idea of national unity of all Romanians. The beginnings of their activity are linked to the experiences they lived through in Vienna and Budapest.

Yoga, a mindfulness therapy to prevent PTSD as to encompass athletes' performance.

Yoga is one of the physical and mental activities used in elite sports training for risk prevention and medical rehabilitation in case of injuries caused by overtraining or accidents. This study examined the opinions of Romanian elite athletes and coaches on the feasibility of incorporating yoga practice into training regimens for purposes of injury prevention and medical recovery. This study surveyed a group of 500 athletes, coaches, and medical personnel from three universities in Romania, all of which are part of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport (PES). An online survey was administered which evaluates athletes' experience of yoga integration in pre/post training and its positive effects on reducing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The data were then analyzed with a structural equation model utilizing SmartPLS software. According to the survey, Romanian athletes use yoga both before and after competitions to improve their focus, balance, muscle, and joint elasticity, foster a winning mindset, control their emotions and PTSD, visualize their competition performance, and see themselves as winners. The survey also found that yoga is seen as useful for cardiac rehabilitation, neuropathic pain, pulmonary disease, orthopedic illness, muscle strain, and managing symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This study contributes to enhancing athletes' mindfulness and health, offering valuable insights to trainers and athletes interested in incorporating yoga into professional sports activity. The results support the notion that yoga integration in training activity promises to positively influence athletes' performance and reduce collateral side effects of competitions. The results are also in line with the objectives of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018-2030 (GAPPPA) - with the theme of "being more efficient to prevent than to treat" - which places special emphasis on the demands for certain programs and services, sports coverage, and healthy workplace initiatives. The study further indicates that Romanian elite athletes and coaches support the use of yoga is an effective method for enhancing athletic training and medical therapy for post-traumatic illnesses and stress disorders.

Culture, Travels and National Identity in Transylvania in the Aftermath of the Great War

In the aftermath of the Great War, the Kingdom of Romania significantly expanded its territory and population by incorporating Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bucovina. Despite the enthusiasm that accompanied the “Great Union”, integrating these culturally distinct areas proved to be a complex and challenging process. Alongside political and administrative unification, the Romanian state faced the task of bringing together populations with different histories and cultural backgrounds. This integration involved not only formerly dominant ethnic groups but also Romanians who had lived and defined themselves as a national community within different contexts. Various debates emerged among the Romanian elites regarding the means of achieving cultural and spiritual unity. One of the factors perceived as hindering the profound unification was the fact that the Romanians from the Old Kingdom and those from the newly acquired provinces were unfamiliar with each other’s culture, habits and customs. Although cultural contacts and transfers had indeed existed before the war, the new context necessitated broader engagement, and the ties needed to be extended to a larger segment of the population. One suggested solution was to promote tourism and travel between the Old Kingdom and the new provinces, so as to foster better understanding, familiarity, and unity among Romanians. By examining journal articles, travel notes and memoirs, the main issue addressed by the present paper is the manner in which tourism and travel fostered cultural and social bonds among Romanians from different areas of Greater Romania, reinforcing a shared sense of national identity. Keywords: Greater Romania, unification, integration, nation, culture, Transylvania, travel, memoirs.

The Institution of the Prefecture in Romania (1864– 1892): Between Social Relations of Patronage and Political Networks

Historical research on the institution of the prefecture in Romania (United Principalities) in the 19th century, as a fundamental institution of modern state administration, involves several levels of analysis, combining institutional, political and social history. Our paper will focus on several aspects, in relation to a number of historical features specific to the Romanian case. These features stem from the implementation of a Western-origin institutional model in Romania, after the union of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, until the end of the 19th century. During this period, a maturation of the modern administration can be observed, both legislatively and functionally. In addition to the legislative framework of this period (the communal law of April 1864, amended in March 1872 and March 1883, the law on county councils of April 1864 and the law on the organization of administrative authorities of November 1892), other factors are also noteworthy, which made the prefect in Romania not only a government agent at the local level, but also a county administrator: the patronage relations of the Romanian elite – a legacy of the Old Regime, and the gradual consolidation of the power networks of the governing political parties, both of which had a relevant impact on the selection process of local officials and the conduct of parliamentary elections. Keywords: Institutional history, administrative reform, ispravnik, prefect

Taming Transylvania: Paramilitaries Building State and Peace after World War I

This text is a political analysis of the events surrounding the demise of the Austro–Hungarian administration in Transylvania and its replacement by the Romanian one at the end of World War I. It focuses on the months of November and December 1918. In particular, the text looks at the Romanian paramilitary groups called the National Guards. I argue that in Transylvania in November and December 1918, the National Guards played a pacifying and state-building role through their repressive and anti-Communist function. Unlike the paramilitary phenomenon in the rest of Europe, in Transylvania it was the very counter-revolutionary function of the paramilitary troops that produced constructive and constitutive effects. At the same time, unlike Romanian historiography, which almost unanimously has seen the role of these troops as only a positive one, I underline the repressive function of the National Guards, which made them act violently against any alternative political projects of that period in the region. The revolutionary state of the province in those days had to be calmed down for Transylvania’s autonomy to be ensured under the control of the local Romanian authorities. The Romanian elite’s state-building project needed security to gain legitimacy. To this end, this elite took control of the various paramilitary forces of the region and monopolized them under the National Guards umbrella. These groups were crucial in the repression against the republican movement and the perceived Bolshevik threat.

Asociația Națională Arădeană pentru Cultura Poporului, parte a societății civile românești din Monarhia Habsburgică (1863-1918)

Within the national cultural and institutional system, the regional cultural associations played a special role: Association for the Culture of the Romanian People from Maramureş (Sighet, February 5, 1861); the Transylvanian Association for Romanian Literature and Culture of the Romanian (ASTRA), founded at Sibiu, on October 23–26/November 4–7, 1861; the Arad National Association for the Culture of the Romanian People (Arad, April 30/May 12, 1863). Due to their regional character, they accelerated the cultural activity on a relatively extended geographical area, also favoring in time the access of village communities to culture act. At the same time, due to the concentration of the political and intellectual elite of all Romanians under foreign domination, they supported and launched extremely fruitful activities for the affirmation of the Romanian national identity. The foundation of regional associations (especially those in Sibiu and Arad, important illuminist, cultural and political centers), embodied the needs of the Romanian elite for developing, in an adequate framework, a major culture, corresponding to the one developed by the scientific institutions of other peoples. Taking into account their purposes and concerns, as well as their organization, the ASTRA and, partially, the Arad National Association, resembled the scientific, academic societies. From another point of view, the foundation of regional associations contributes to the process of institutionalizing Transylvania Romanian culture, on a national basis, which anticipated the expansion of the elements constituting national awareness towards the greater social categories. This process became more and more visible at the middle of the 19th Century, reflecting the dissemination of Romanticism in the local public interest, as well as in that of the whole South-eastern Europe. Regional associations brought to their program diverse cultural objectives, in the Romanticist direction, which amplified the forms of manifesting national sentiment and contributed to the affirmation of Romanian solidarity in general.

Land of peaceful separatists – the Szeklerland in Romanian media

In Romanian media, Szeklerland — a region in Central Romania with an ethnic Hungarian majority – is often evoked as a troublesome part of the country, where Romanians are discriminated against and Hungarian separatism undermines the authority of the state. This representation has endured since the fall of Communism in 1989, even though — unlike in other regions of Europe — the local Hungarian autonomist movement has always relied on peaceful means. The mainstream Romanian discourse, with its focus on the political efforts of Hungarian parties, the symbolic rivalry between Hungarian and Romanian elites, and the fight for economic resources has largely been unchanged. This conflict-oriented perspective makes for a skewed and ethnicized representation of Szeklerland, portrayed as an ‘intolerant region’. While the region witnessed only a minor Hungarian–Romanian conflict in March 1990, the topics of instability and constant tension pervaded the media discourse regarding Szeklerland during the 1990s. Even though the dominant nationalist discourse has become less virulent, this pattern has persisted with the advent of digital and new media formats. Many contemporary representations of Szeklerland on commercial television and social media platforms keep reproducing the stereotypes inherited from the 1990s. This article is based on a historical approach, and, through the analysis of several recent Romanian short documentary films about the Szekler area, highlights the reproduction of the region’s imagery and the most common strategies that feed this polarizing representation.

Victor Taki. Russia on the Danube: Empire, Elites, and Reform in Moldavia and Wallachia, 1812–1834

Victor Taki. <i>Russia on the Danube: Empire, Elites, and Reform in Moldavia and Wallachia, 1812–1834</i>

ELITA ROMÂNEASCĂ DIN SIGHIȘOARA ÎN A DOUA JUMĂTATE A SECOLULUI AL XIX-LEA

The second half of the 19th century finds Sighișoara in a fast economic and social transformation. Obvious steps on the path of modernization had a positive impact upon the Romanian population of the town. The present study highlights that, similar to other towns from Transylvania, here one can witness a diversification of the composition of the Romanian elite. The number of the priests remains high, but there is also a significant percentage of nonclerical elites. To these categories, one needs to add the emergence of a tenuous but increasing craft and commercial elite, which will show signs of exponential growth during the first decades of the 20th century.

Motor racing and sports tourism in the interwar period: the case of the Romanian Royal Automobile Club

Members of the Romanian elites encouraged various leisure and sporting activities from the late nineteenth century but most notably from the turn of the twentieth century onwards and during the post-WWI period. Some even become sportsmen and sportswomen recognized both nationally and internationally. Their participation in national and international sporting competitions (e.g. equestrian sports, motorsport, tennis, bobsleigh, sledging, skiing, ice-skating, ice-hockey, boxing, rugby and football) expanded to its highest level in the interwar period. Many intriguing and compelling aspects of the history of sport in south-east Europe in this period remain to be explored, and this article aims to show how the Romanian Royal Automobile Club (R.R.A.C.) promoted motor racing and sports tourism during a period of great changes for Romanian society. Moreover, the club fulfilled a significant public service role, unusual for a sports association, assisting the Romanian state in its process of nation building, elite integration and economic advancement.

Manele Music as a Marker of Collective Shame in the Online Discourse of the Romanian Diaspora in the United Kingdom

"This article charts the reception of manele music among the Romanian diaspora in the UK. Using a netnographic approach applied to an online diasporic community, it studies the replication of acerbic debates in Romania about the role of manele within Romanian musical tradition. It also shows how the racialization of the Roma and the rejection of manele as “inferior” music serve both psychological and political purposes for a community that has experienced a loss in status due to migration. Manele become thus the measuring tape of cultural taste but also markers of collective shame that separate the “good” Romanians from the “bad”. These power games need to be understood in the context of old dissensions among Romanian elites related to Romania’s uncomfortable belonging to the Balkans. They also represent a renewed contestation of Oriental influences in Romanian culture that threaten to disrupt Romania’s presupposed belonging to the West. Keywords: manele, Roma, Romania, diaspora, Orientalism, shame. "

The Cultural and Nationalising Mission of Kindergarten Teachers in Southern Dobruja, 1914-1940

Public Education was an essential feature of nation-building throughout Europe during the 19th century. Nationalising states designed school policies to transform peasants into nationals and citizens. However, kindergartens were primarily urban institutions. One of their goals was to teach young children modern languages. At the beginning of the 20th century, Romanian elites started to create and adjust them to nationalise Dobruja and Cadrilater, the two provinces integrated into the Old Kingdom. Both regions were ethnically diverse. In localities primarily inhabited by a minority population, the purpose of kindergartens was to spread the Romanian language and national culture. This article focuses on the national integration of South Dobruja through public kindergartens. It also examines the professional path of teachers serving in these regions until the end of the 1940s. Finally, the paper follows teachers’ interaction with the locals and their efforts to mediate between the pedagogical and national aims of Greater Romania and the local interests that sometimes collided with the state school policies.

Un passé qu’il faut dépasser. «Guerres des mémoires» et «traumas culturels» de la transition roumaine

"In addition to social, political and economic traumas that are inherent to democratization and that are common to all postcommunist societies from Central and Eastern Europe, the Romanian society has confronted, since the 90s, the effects of some “cultural traumas” (J. C. Alexander), in particular resulting from the intellectual conflicts of memory related to the communist past. By disturbing the main cultural and historical identity “referents” that provide the basis of the “cultural identification” process (A. Mucchielli), as well as social cohesion, cultural traumas constructed by the Romanian elites after 1989 have compromised their own purposes and gave birth to a series of social, cultural and identity crises responsible for the nostalgia of the communist “golden age” and the social anomie. Keywords: cultural trauma, cultural memory, conflicts of memory, collective identity, democratization "

„Asemenea hoți înfrățiți cu poporul”: inventarea haiducului în cultura românească romantică

In this paper I examine the discourse on banditry (haiducie) articulated by the romantic elite of 19th century Romania. By relying on the various literary productions of the era, from short stories to memoirs and travel literature, I posit that the image of the noble bandit is rather manufactured by the elite to fit their political agenda, if not actually imported from ready-made west-European bandit models. The reason behind the cosmetic treatment of robbers and highwaymen that the Romanian elites perform in their writings, is the same as that of their western counterparts: noble bandits are easily integrated in the emerging nation-state narrative of the era and are useful as precursors of the political claims of the elite.

Landmarks in the Evolution of the Main Types of Banking Operations of Albina in Sibiu 1872-1946. II

Landmarks in the Evolution of the Main Types of Banking Operations of Albina in Sibiu 1872-1946. II

IMPACT OF THE SARS-COV-2 PANDEMIC ON ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE IN THE 100-METER RACE

The COVID-19 virus has caused numerous deaths among the Romanian population and worldwide, which has entailed the restriction of certain rights regarding the training of elite athletes. Most sports competitions were cancelled all over the world, even the 2020 Olympic Games, thus jeopardising the athletes’ performance. The purpose of this research is to make a comparison between the results of Romanian elite athletes in the sprint race (100 m) before and after the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and to identify certain parameters specific to these races: start reaction time, heart rate (during exercise and at rest) and stride frequency. In order to identify and monitor these parameters, we used the Polar Flow application, which is popular among both team and individual athletes. It was found that the average heart rate during competition had the value 175 beats per minute before the pandemic, while after the period of restrictions, it was 184 beats per minute; at rest, the average heart rate values were 66 beats per minute and 78 beats per minute, respectively. The average values recorded in the outdoor and indoor 100 m races are as follows: before the pandemic, 6.70 s and 10.66 s, respectively; after the period of restrictions, 6.88 s and 10.85 s, respectively. The enforcement of constraining conditions that affect the optimal development of training leads to changes in physiological parameters and significant differences between the results obtained.

The Past as Science: Romanian Cartography at the Paris Peace Congress of 1919

Abstract Romanian cartography at the Paris Peace Conference has so far received very little attention. Nevertheless, Romanian scholars produced tens of maps to support Romanian claims, most of them ethnographic ones. Seen as unscientific in 1919, they were quietly brushed aside. The present article argues that Romanian maps of 1919 displayed the same ideas found among Romanian elites. Ethnographic space was for them not just a matter of graphic representation of census results, but also the historical development of ancient and modern Dacia. Romanian cartography was congruous with Romanian culture in a wider sense. The article will review these ideas and then discuss their impact in Paris in 1919 and for Romanian culture since then.

Measuring Perceived Social Support in Elite Athletes: Psychometric Properties of the Romanian Version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.

The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) is a brief measure designed to capture individuals' perceptions of the support received from their social networks. It has been translated into several languages and adapted for various cultural contexts. The aim of this study was to evaluate psychometric properties of the Romanian version of the MSPSS, using a sample of young elite athletes. To assess its validity and reliability, 282 Romanian elite athletes (176 males, 106 females; 19 - 25 years old) completed the MSPSS together with questionnaires measuring life satisfaction, negative emotional disposition, and perceived stress. A confirmatory factor analysis underpinned a 12-item three-factor correlated model that was invariant over gender. Cronbach's alpha and Raykov's composite reliability coefficients together with average variance extracted showed adequate values for each factor. Correlational analysis displayed that three sources of social support positively correlated with life satisfaction and negative emotional disposition and negatively correlated with perceived stress. Altogether, the MSPSS is a valid and reliable short measure for Romanian elite athletes to explore perceived social support from their family, friends, or significant others.

Landmarks in the Evolution of the Main Types of Banking Operations of Albina in Sibiu 1872-1946. I

Abstract The 75 years history of Albina Bank reflects in its main characteristics that particularize it in the modern banking system the forms and crediting policies present in its statutes. The initial focus of the Albina Bank board was to activate a diverse palate of credit activities – in the first statute of the bank we can find no less than 15 types of loans. Few were actually accommodated, according to the possibilities of financing and also related to the social and economic background of the future debtors that came, the majority until 1918 from the rural areas. More so, the bank took into account the economic, financial and political context where the Romanian elite from Transylvania activated. Thus, in the first period of activity of the Albina bank its board will activate the most mobile types of crediting (credit of input and lending with public collaterals) wanting to increase the funding sources which are the main focus on the first part on an extended study.

Nationalizing international relief: Romanian responses to American aid for children in the Great War era

ABSTRACT This article examines the interactions between American humanitarian agendas and initiatives and domestic efforts for child relief in Romania in the aftermath of the Great War. While focusing on the presence of the European Children’s Fund (ECF) in post-war Romania, the article traces the domestic organization of relief, the Romanian elites’ turn to American humanitarian assistance, and their active responses to this external aid on behalf of war-suffering children. The article argues that Romanian leadership of child welfare initiatives nationalized American humanitarian aid by integrating ECF’s institutional efforts into domestically established philanthropic associations. This nationalization was sustained in three key ways: (1) American humanitarians’ own engagement of local channels in aid diffusion; (2) the growing network of national associations of child welfare in post-war Romania; (3) the competing political agendas of both donors and recipients. The case of Romanian responses to American aid for children, and its eventual domestic institutionalization, challenges the seemingly unequal relationship between Western donors and East-Central European recipients during a period of post-war reconstruction and sociopolitical transformation. It sheds light on the transnational dimension of the humanitarian process, driven by the dual agency of foreign humanitarians and domestic interlocutors in the country of aid reception.