Romanian Revolution Research Articles

Revolution and the End of History: Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest

Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest , written and performed very soon after the Romanian revolution in 1990 and performed both in London and Bucharest, is a dynamic, inter-cultural play that represents a variety of perspectives on the revolutionary events, as well as oscillating between English and Romanian cultural and language coordinates. It has a peculiar topicality in its detailed and specific uses of different aspects of the revolutionary narrative, its sketches of family life before and after the revolution, and its inclusion of the revolution as reported in quasi-documentary-style testimony. The perspective in this article is one that places the play within a framework that thinks through Mad Forest ’s relationship to the triumphant, neo-liberalist heralding of “the end of history,” most famously argued by Francis Fukuyama in his 1989 article of that name. This discourse gained further confidence from the collapse of Eastern Europe, a collapse that was viewed by proponents of the end-of-history argument as signalling the permanent disintegration of communism and a victory for capitalism. However, Mad Forest is considered here as a play that reflects multiple perspectives on the revolutionary period and, while declining to provide political solutions as such, simultaneously refuses to accede to the implications of the end-of-history argument.

Accessing the trauma of communism

This article centres on representations of Romanian women in the on-site reports filmed by American news crews in the days and weeks following the Romanian revolution. Around these representations, the article traces Romania's journey into televisibility on American television news, from an initially inaccessible site of falling communism to an overexposed site of post-communist trauma. Reports from abortion clinics were the first encounters with the territory of Romania that American television offered firsthand to its viewers, and these representations of Romanian women were the first representations of post-communist identities on American television. The article suggests that these representations of post-communist subjects, who appear as overexposed sites on which American television traces the effects of communism and the predicaments of the post-communist condition, display symptomatic features which have remained pervasive.

The Communist Dracula Pageant

By Americans, for Americans a play about the Romanian Revolution of 1989 with hallucinations, phosphorescence, and bears

Book Review: Peter Siani-Davies, The Romanian Revolution of December 1989, Cornell University Press: Ithaca and London, 2005; 328 pp.; 0801442451, $45/£25.50 (hbk)

Book Review: Peter Siani-Davies, The Romanian Revolution of December 1989, Cornell University Press: Ithaca and London, 2005; 328 pp.; 0801442451, $45/£25.50 (hbk)

History ante portas!: Nicolae Ceauşescu's Speech in Response to Timişoara Events and the Beginning of the 1989 Romanian Revolution

(2008). History ante portas!: Nicolae Ceausescu's Speech in Response to Timisoara Events and the Beginning of the 1989 Romanian Revolution. Advances in the History of Rhetoric: Vol. 11-12, No. 1, pp. 237-261.

Democratization in Central Europe

Democratization in Central Europe is a success story in historical perspective. Twenty years after the spectacular collapse of communism, most countries, which had belonged to the ”buffer zone” between West Germany and the Soviet Union, now belong to the European Union. The transition was relatively short and was characterized by negotiations, self-limiting behavior, and nonviolence of the participants (with the exception of the Romanian revolution). The ideas of 1989 included negative freedom, free market liberalism, consensual democracy, civil society, and the wish to return to Europe, determined by the social, political, and economic legacies of communism. The short transition was followed by a longer and more difficult consolidation, which was parallel with economic restructuring, privatization, and deregulation. The pain of economic transformation was socially accepted as an ”inevitable” part of the process. Social peace could therefore be based on the patience of these societies as well as on the hope to enter NATO and the European Union. In a way, it was an externally driven consolidation. In 2004, most of the Central European countries joined the European Union, which caused a landslide political change in their internal politics. While countries of Central Europe are now inside the EU, which caused some parallel changes in the leadership, the end of post-communism did not seem to bring fundamentally more innovative political elites into the leadership of these societies.

Technology and the Romanian Revolution: performative contradiction in the nation‐state

Technology and the Romanian Revolution: performative contradiction in the nation‐state

The Romanian Revolution of December 1989

The Romanian Revolution of December 1989

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this issue. Conciliating the Irish Ireland: The Politics of Enmity, 1789–2006, by Paul Bew. The lobby of all lobbies? The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, by John J. Meirsheimer and Stephen M. Walt. Algeria's dead—does anyone care? Algeria: Anger of the Dispossessed, by Martin Evans and John Phillips. Patriotic intentions Patriotism and Other Mistakes, by George Kateb. Tony Benn, Human Being More Time for Politics: Diaries, 2001–2007, by Tony Benn, selected and edited by Ruth Winstone. Churchill the Zionist Churchill and the Jews, by Martin Gilbert. British communists under the microscope Communists and British Society, 1920–1991, by Kevin Morgan, Gidon Cohen and Andrew Flinn. The Romanian revolution revisited The Romanian Revolution of December 1989, by Peter Siani‐Davies. Comrades of the world: you are history! Comrades: A World History of Communism, by Robert Service.

The Evolution of Public Accounting in Romania in the Post-Communist Period

Since we can safely say about Romania that it had to go through a long process of transformation until the European Union member state stage, we can also state that the Romanian public accounting system has suffered multiple changes in order to match the level of the European accounting system, based, especially, on the accruals basis of accounting, supported by the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). This transition hasn't been easy because we identify at least three periods of time in the evolution of the public accounting system after 1989, the year of the Romanian Revolution identified with the end of communism and the beginning of the capitalist era: as a starting point we have the public accounting system specific to the communist period, at least in what concerns the theoretical and legislative substantiation, which we cannot say that it ended in 1989 but which has continued until 2001; the interval 2002-2005 which marked the beginning of the public accounting transition from the cash basis system towards the accrual basis system; the interval 2006-present which acknowledges the accruals basis of accounting system as an accounting organizational system. The purpose of this paper is to analyze this evolution, segmented on the three defining intervals in order to get acquainted with what the public accounting system has been, how it has transformed itself, what modifications it has undergone, and what level it attained today.

Temporary Triumph in Timişoara: Unrest among Romanian Students in 1956

AbstractBetween 1952 and 1965, the one‐party regime under Gheorghe Gheorghiu‐Dej ranked as one of the most totalitarian of all communist bloc countries. Aware of the revolutionary ferment in neighbouring Hungary in 1956, the Romanian leaders took strict measures to prevent similar unrest occurring in their own country, including a ban on all meetings numbering more than three individuals. And yet, on 30 October over 2,000 students from the Polytechnic Institute in Timişoara met with party officials and demanded changes in living and study conditions, as well as the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Romania. Another 800 to 1,000 students convened on 31 October, calling for the release of students who had been arrested the day before. If the Dej regime's measures prevented mass demonstrations in cities such as Bucharest, Cluj and Iaşi, how did they initially fail in the case of Timişoara? How were the students in this city able to speak out so freely? Drawing on memoirs, archival documents and recent scholarship, this article will answer these questions, referring to psychological, logistical and historical factors. These include discrepancies between the Romanian and Hungarian media that sparked curiosity about events in Hungary; cramped dormitory rooms that actually facilitated student meetings; and a tradition of anti‐communist protest prevalent since 1945 in the Banat region. While the students did not prevail in 1956, they set a vital precedent for the Timişoarans who launched the Romanian Revolution thirty‐three years later in 1989.

“If Hope is Sin, Then We Are All Guilty”: Romanian Students’ Reactions to the Hungarian Revolution and Soviet Intervention, 1956–1958

The events of 1956 (the Twentieth CPSU Congress, Khrushchev’s Secret Speech, and the Hungarian revolution) had a strong impact on the evolution of the Romanian communist regime, paving the way for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Romania in 1958, the stricter policy toward the Transylvanian Hungarians, and Romania’s greater independence from the USSR in the 1960s. Students complained about their living and studying conditions long before the outbreak of the Hungarian crisis. Ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania listened closely to Budapest radio stations, and Romanian students in Budapest in the summer of 1956 were especially affected by the ferment of ideas there. For the Gheorghiu-Dej regime, the Hungarian revolution and Soviet invasion provided a useful excuse to end the destalinization process and crack the whip conclusivel —carrying out mass arrests, but also granting short-term concessions to ethnic minorities and workers. Of all segments of the Romanian population, university students were the most discontented. Drawing on archival documents, published memoirs, and recent Romanian scholarship, this paper will analyze and compare the student unrest in Bucharest, Cluj, Iaşi, and Timişoara. Due to a combination of psychological, logistical, and historical factors, students in the latter city were especially vocal and organized. On October 30 over 2,000 students from the Polytechnic Institute in Timişoara met with party offi cials, demanding changes in living and study conditions, as well as the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Romania. Another 800-1,000 students convened on October 31, calling for the release of students who were arrested the day before. Obvious discrepancies between the Romanian and Hungarian media sparked their curiosity about events in Hungary, while their cramped dorm rooms actually facilitated student meetings. In the Banat region itself, a tradition of anti-communist protest had prevailed since 1945. Although arrested en masse, these students set a vital precedent—especially for the Timişoarans who launched the Romanian Revolution thirty-three years later.

Communication Might Boost The European Cultural Capital Program – Case Study Sibiu 2007

This paper is a case study: the town of Sibiu - Transylvania - Romania. There is no doubt that Sibiu area has already gathered the critical mass of its development capable to satisfy the requests of the tourists in order to be considered as a tourist destination according to Gunn' criterion. A good communication is compulsory to boost a tourist destination for the both major actors: the organizers and the population - the potential tourists. We argue that the destination has started to communicate with the world and is learning how to improve its capabilities of dialogue. But the world has also begun to communicate with Sibiu, and at the end of the line with Romania, after knowing what it is and who its inhabitants are. And more important, the natives started to talk one another according the nowadays global custom. The European Cultural Capital has boosted the communication of a new discovered tourist destination according to the current global routine. This paper was intended to be a case study: the town of Sibiu - Transylvania - Romania as the European Cultural Capital 2007 with Luxembourg. I've planed to investigate the second of the most significant events my town, and its citizens has experienced the last decades (for the other one I cote the Romanian Revolution - December '89, when Sibiu has experienced the bloodiest and the strangest days during the last century). My field researches have shown that "Boosting the Communication of a Tourist Destination by the European Cultural Capital Program" is a topic with too large connections, associations and implications. I was therefore obliged to stay on an outline and to carry on my work by further investigations. As a consequence this paper has to be an invitation to join the researches for anyone which can contribute to clear the problems or answer the questions that will arise. The program The European Cultural Capital is one of the success stories of EU. My first purpose was the "boule de neige"'s effect among the towns of Romania and the neighbouring countries. The evidence has proven once again that common people of EU have hardly heard about Sibiu before this program. Usually Bucharest is taken for Budapest. I have to enlarge my quest. There is no doubt that Sibiu area has already gathered the critical mass of its development capable to satisfy the requests of the tourists in order to be considered as a tourist destination according to usual criteria. I have found out that the destination has started to communicate: the natives started to talk one another, with the world, with Romania. The European Cultural Capital has boosted the communication of a new discovered tourist destination according to the current global routine. This paper, this outline is destined for my foreign audience but also for my co citizen that might add, complete and conclude the topic (I hope so!). I am obliged to highlight some points that are usual unknown or ignored by EU people as well as by the Romanians that might have a different perceptions of the facts as they are usually used in Western developed countries.

Romanian Revolution of December 1989, Peter Siani-Davies (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005), xi, 315 pp.

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The Romanian Revolution of December 1989. By Peter Siani-Davies. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005. xii, 315 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Photographs. $45.00, hard bound.

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The Romanian revolution of December, 1989

The Romanian revolution of December, 1989

The Romanian Revolution of December 1989

The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was the most spectacularly violent and remains today the most controversial of all the East European upheavals of that year. Despite (or perhaps because of) the media attention the revolution received, it remains shrouded in mystery. How did the seemingly impregnable Ceausescu regime come to be toppled so swiftly and how did Ion Iliescu and the National Salvation Front come to power? Was it by coup d'etat? Who were the mysterious terrorists who wreaked such havoc on the streets of Bucharest and the other major cities of Romania? Were they members of the notorious securitate? What was the role of the Soviet Union? Blending narrative with analysis, Peter Siani-Davies seeks to answer these and other questions while placing the events and their immediate aftermath within a wider context. Based on fieldwork conducted in Romania and drawing heavily on Romanian sources, including television and radio transcripts, official documents, newspaper reports, and interviews, this book is the most thorough study of the Romanian Revolution that has appeared in English or any other major European language. Recognizing that a definitive history of these events may be impossible, Siani-Davies focuses on the ways in which participants interpreted the events according to particular scripts and myths of revolution rooted in the Romanian historical experience. In the process the author sheds light on the ways in which history and the conflicting retellings of the 1989 events are put to political use in the transitional societies of Eastern Europe.

Distorting defense: network news and national security

Introduction: Targeting the Content of Network News National Security and Network News National Security: The New York-Washington Axis Dissecting Network Coverage of National Security Cut That Defense Budget! Weapons That Do Not Work? The Defense Industry: A Scandalous Business? Arms Control: Let's Make a Deal The Foreign Policy Scorecard Why Network Coverage Fell Short The B-2 and Network News: A Case Study in Distortion The Romanian Revolution...Beyond the Images A Few Notes on Network Coverage of the Gulf War Policy-makers Still Read All About It Conclusion: Expertise and Standards Matter Appendix 1: Notes on Methodology Appendix 2: Brief Overview of the Pentagon News-Gathering Operation References Index

The Uses of Absurdity: the Staged War Theory and the Romanian Revolution of December 1989

The Uses of Absurdity: the Staged War Theory and the Romanian Revolution of December 1989

Romanian revolution or coup d'état?: A theoretical view of the events of December 1989

The exact nature of the events of December 1989 in Romania has long been the subject of intense speculation and this article seeks to contribute to this ongoing debate by considering the previously rather neglected question of whether from a theoretical point of view it can be justifiably termed a revolution. Utilizing the current literature on theories of revolution, it examines whether the events constituted a revolution or some other form of irregular political challenge such as a coup d'état or popular uprising. The overall conclusion is that although a revolutionary situation arose in the country in 1989, a revolutionary outcome is not yet assured.