Revolution, democratic transition and disillusionment : the case of Romania / Anca Mihaela Pusca.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pusca, Anca.

Series:

Perspectives on democratic practice (Manchester, England)

Perspectives on democratic practice

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Post-communism--Romania.

Post-communism.

Democratization.

Romania.

Democratization--Romania.

Romania--Politics and government--1989-.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

x, 230 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York : distributed in the United States exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

Summary:

This book develops a fresh and challenging perspective on Romania's transition from communism to capitalism. Drawing on a wide and diverse range of materials and texts, it argues that transition and democratization studies should turn their attention towards processes of illusion formation and disillusionment as key to understanding the shift from one ideological framework to another. The author provides alternative approaches to otherwise classical sites of examination of social change - such as revolutions and the emergence of civil society - and proposes a number of new possible sites by analyzing the politics of self-reflection, the element of shock inherent in any transition and the role of visual narratives in negotiating change.

The chapters are inspired by unique interviews and discussions with the leaders of the Timisoara Revolution, the Group for Social Dialogue (the first civil society organization in post-communist Romania), the leading author of the Presidential Report Analyzing the Communist Dictatorship in Romania and an innovative group of photographers tracing the Romanian transition through images.

This concise and accessible book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of central and East European studies, international studies, democratization studies, sociology and cultural studies.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 Between the past and the future: Romania, seventeen years into its transition 6

3 An anatomy of disillusionment 29

4 Shock and transitions 54

5 The illusions and disillusions of the Romanian Revolution: the case of the Timisoara revolutionaries 87

6 The illusions and disillusions of civil society: the case of the Group for Social Dialogue 137

7 Representing illusions and disillusions: a visual narrative of the Romanian transition to capitalism 174

8 Conclusion 206.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [214]-225) and index.

ISBN:

9780719076985

0719076986

OCLC:

232981120